Trick and Treat
by Digi-Dolphin
Summary: seq. to Bittersweet. With Ginger rebelling and Wren able to overcome his doubts, things seem to settle down for Caleb's journey. Yet the Dark Chefs are getting more aggressive, and now Wren has some kind of recurring illness. What more can go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Still working on HoC, but getting these out quickly will help to end the fandom that much sooner. Besides, there are so few Wonder Chef fics out there. I want to see others write some too, so here's motivation for it!

* * *

Ch 1

"That's the last of them." Caleb murmured with a sigh of relief as he pulled the last few books from the fallen shelves and shoved them in his pack. The Tower of Mana's library had taken substantial damage and the automated doll spent a few days evacuating the books that had survived the collapse of the tower. His friends, the half-breed mana beast named Peppermint FireBlossom, and the Wonder Chef known to him as Wren, spent the same amount of time exploring the tower and testing new recipes. The spheres of light that had broken from their altars in the tower provided toys for Pepper, who rolled them into what few sources of light leeched through cracks in the building, then sent them flying about like so many miniature comets; Wren continued testing his cooking skills with the new recipes, still hoping to discover what was 'wrong' with the way he prepared the food. No luck yet.

"Pepper, Wren, I got everything packed! Let's go!" Caleb called out as he hefted the stuffed pack onto his shoulders and began to trek out of the library. He climbed the stairs as Pepper trotted out of a room from higher up the tower. She leaped out into the central space and spread her wings, flapping them as she hovered in the air with the Wonder Chef on her back.

"That's it? You got everything recorded?" Wren asked down at the doll as Caleb walked up the crumbling steps. The doll nodded. "Great! So where to next?"

"Balacruf Mausoleum."

"**There?!** But...!"

"You should have known better than to ask me. Or tag along with me on this trip." Caleb remarked flatly as they headed up the tower to the exit. "That's two seals down and six more to go. Are you **sure** you don't want to go on your own journey now? It's never too late to return to your quest of spreading recipes; I'd completely understand."

"Stop trying to get rid of me. I'm like cheese on a spatula!" Wren declared, "I'm gonna stick to you **forever**!"

"Pepper, bring Wren a little closer to me so I can whap him over the head." Caleb purred with an evil grin as the tunnel they cleared loomed before them. Wren quickly put his hands over his head, blinking in surprise. "I'm kidding. But lay off the food puns for a while, 'kay?"

--

Outside the tower, Caleb, Pepper, and Wren were greeted by two surprise guests, one who traced Wren using the sophisticated magitechnology of the Wonder Organization, the other who found him using old-fashioned detective work.

"Oh good Goddess!" Wren yelped and raced back towards the Tower of Mana as the Asgard chef yelled and gave chase with a ladle in one hand and brambles covering his clothes.

"Get back here! I'm not done with you!" he yelled, ran after him for a few steps, then collapsed with a tired pant, "I... I'll... get you... right after a nap." Eve Voraci, Wren's twin sister, blinked down at the exhausted cook as she walked by him towards Caleb.

"He looks like he could use some hot soup." she told the doll and smiled brightly, "So, _you_ must be Adam's friend! I was right; you **are** cute! I'm Adam's sister, Eve. Nice to meet you!" Caleb blinked at her and sighed.

"Wren! Get back here and talk to your sister!" he shouted and gave the blonde woman a sheepish grin, "Hi, my name's Caleb. Um, I have to go deal with Wren's stalker. Later." He walked off to poke at the fallen cook. Eve shrugged and walked off to find her brother hiding behind Pepper.

"_Buon giorno_, Twin! How are you feeling?" she chirped with a bright smile as she waved at him. Wren blinked as he stood up and cautiously made his way out from his hiding spot.

"Eve? What are _you_ doing here? How did you find me?" he asked the other cook.

"Daddy traced your communicator from the Wonder Organization and I hopped a transport dragon to fly here from Hima. I also ran into a friend of yours who was trying to find you, too." she replied and giggled, winking the deep blue eye that was visible, the other hidden under the swept aside bangs of hair. "So, is she your '_girrrl_-friend'? Are you in _looooove_?" she teased conspiratorially.

"Wh-what?! Eve! You're not making any sense! What friend? Who is 'she'?" Wren exclaimed in confusion. Eve giggled again as she waved her hand in dismissal.

"Oh, you! Go ahead and play innocent." she cooed and looked skyward. The sun had already set and stars were beginning to come into view. "Gee. It's late and I'm getting hungry. Adam, why not whip up one of your famous dishes for us?" Eve added and smiled brightly at her brother, long blonde hair shimmering like a cape behind her, "You always make _such_ delicious dishes."

"Do I have to?" Wren sighed as Caleb joined them, dragging the Asgard cook along the ground by his ankles.

"This guy needs food. I think he's been on our trail since we left Asgard. That impostor must have really done a number on your reputation there." the doll remarked and blinked as Eve twirled around him in laughter, her white Wonder Cook uniform seeming almost to repel any amount of dirt that tried to get near her. Pepper cocked her head and watched the woman spin by. "Uh, what's with your sister, Wren?"

"She's a bit airy." Wren sighed in resignation as Caleb dropped the cook to set up camp and a fire.

* * *

Soon enough, the group was sitting around the warm campfire, discussing the only common interest they had; cooking. From trading recipes to sharing stories about first cooking fiascoes, the group began connecting and relaxing, becoming fast friends as they waited patiently for the promise of excellent stew. Amid all the laughter and chatter, Eve would constantly look over her shoulder at Wren, watching him work on the meat stew.

"Has Wren ever had a cooking disaster of his own when he was a kid?" Caleb asked the Wonder Cook as she turned back to the conversation.

"Not really. He was a natural at cooking since he was old enough to hold a soup spoon, though he was kinda lazy about it at first. Once Adam really got into cooking, there was no stopping him!" she replied cheerfully. The Asgard cook, now known to the group simply as Fredrik, made a derisive sound as he tapped his ladle in his hand.

"Of course. Big surprise. Everyone knows how freakin' _perfect_ the Wonder Chef is when it comes to cooking." the cook scoffed. Caleb punched him lightly in the arm, careful not to break the bone.

"It's something that runs in the blood, Freddy. It helps that he grew up around a family of cooks and chefs." the doll told him sternly and picked up the small reader/writer device given to him by the Renegades to store all the information Caleb collected into small data crystals. He spent his time studying the data in the most recent crystal as Wren sat back from the pot simmering over the fire.

"Well, that should do it. I hope it comes out right this time." he mumbled half-heartedly and turned to the group, "Soup's on!" Pepper leaped up at the sound and clacked cheerfully as she trotted up to eat. The group moved to pick up bowls and utensils, serving themselves as they each thanked Wren for the meal.

"Aren't you going to get any?" Eve asked Caleb as the redhead remained seated. He shook his head, still perusing the data scrolling on the small screen. "You should eat to keep up your strength."

"Caleb's an automated doll. He doesn't need to eat." Wren whispered into his sister's ear, "He can't. That's why he can't really help me with testing the new recipes." Eve blinked in surprise, then looked thoughtful for a moment before shrugging it off.

The living beings all dug into the stew eagerly, munching on the mix of meats, vegetables and satays. After a few minutes, the cooks looked at each other in concern, then at Wren, who only glared down at his bowl with a slightly flushed face.

"Don't tell me. I already know." he muttered.

"This is the **best** the Wonder Chef can make? You should look into early retirement, kid." Fredrik jeered as Pepper whistled in disappointment, "Heck, I bet **I** could make a better Wonder Chef!" Caleb reached out and punched him again, not bothering to look up from the device. Eve gazed down at her stew with a sad expression.

"Brother, what's happened to you?" she asked softly. Wren set the bowl down and got up, walking away from the group silently. Fredrik hopped up and headed for the stew pot, fussing with his own pouch of ingredients.

"**What** are you doing?" Caleb growled, still watching the data on the unit in his hand.

"Fixing this mess of a stew." the cook shot back, "What's it look like?" Eve watched her twin walk off and got up, hurrying after him.

--

"Adam! Wait!" Wren stopped at the sound of his sister's voice and turned slightly to watch her run up to him. "Adam... Little Brother, what's happened?" the cook asked worriedly.

"Nothing. I'm fine." Wren answered emotionlessly, "I've just lost my touch at cooking. That's all. I'll get it back. One day." He sighed and closed his eyes. "Can you at least tell me what was wrong with it? Maybe you can help me find out what I'm doing wrong."

"The taste. It doesn't taste like anything you used to cook for me." Eve murmured. Wren threw up his hands in exasperation.

"I don't **get** it! I'm doing everything according to the recipe!" he exclaimed in frustration, "I heated the water, I added the meat, the carrots, the potatoes... everything! I did it in the proper order and at the proper times, I made sure I added exactly the right amount of satay..." Eve reached out and took her brother's hands into her own, shaking her head.

"You did _everything_ right? According to the recipe?" she questioned softly. Wren nodded. "Step by step? To the letter? A picture perfect stew as dictated by the Wonder Organization?" Wren nodded again, giving his sister a confused look. "What were you thinking about?" she suddenly asked.

"Huh? What was I thinking about?" the chef echoed, completely lost, "I dunno. _'Don't screw up'_?" Eve smiled.

"**That's** what's wrong. You set yourself up to fail. You didn't follow the recipe, the _real_ recipe." she told him gently, "Adam, you _never_ followed the Wonder Organization's recipes."

"Yes I have." Wren protested.

"No, you **didn't**. You followed the Wonder _Chef_'s recipes; the ones that rely on the power within the chef." the other blonde repeated more firmly. "I've been watching you cook that stew and I didn't see the Wonder Chef at work. I didn't even see my _brother_. I saw a very scared, very unsure young cook trying too hard to make dinner... and believing he would fail." She looked down at their entwined fingers and shook her head. "Why are you scared? Why are you holding back on your cooking? Why did you give up?"

"I'm not _scared_ of anything! I'm not holding back; I'm not giving up! I'm telling you, I keep trying and **nothing's** working!" the young chef yelled stubbornly, yanking his hands away, "And the recipes are exactly the same! There's no difference between the ones the Organization uses and the ones **I** use!" Eve looked up at him, on the verge of crying but looking almost fierce.

"Adam, you've just finished cooking a _lousy_ meat stew under the name of Wonder Chef. Use the Wonder Fork. Try to use its power to warp back to the camp." she demanded. Wren blinked at her in confusion and she looked angrier. "Don't stand there thinking about it! **Do it!**"

"Okay. Fine." Wren muttered as he pulled the fork from his back. He gave it a twirl and held it up. After a moment, he looked startled. "Wh-what? It's... not working?" He brought it down and stared at it in his hands. "That's not possible! I'm the Wonder Chef!"

"Your skill and power have left you because you've forgotten what makes the recipes the Wonder Chef uses more powerful than the Wonder Cooks'." Eve told him hotly, her arms akimbo as she tapped her foot on the ground. "You've always told me and everyone you meet that a _true_ chef cooks with their **heart**! You can never make good food unless you put your heart into it and believe that your cooking will do good in this world! Little Brother, because so many others doubted you could still be Wonder Chef, you stopped believing in yourself." Wren stared up at her in disbelief. "You're holding back on your power by doubting your ability to be a good chef. By setting yourself up to fail with that way of thinking, you weaken your power. As a result, the Wonder Fork failed to see you as Wonder Chef." Eve finished, "I bet you didn't try using it immediately after cooking when you traveled with Caleb. Otherwise, you'd have discovered this yourself long ago."

"That's it..." Wren whispered in shocked realization, "Doubt. I told Caleb long ago that I was starting to doubt myself. Is **that** what's been wrong with me this entire time?"

"Go back and do it again. This time, use the Wonder Chef's recipe; a recipe that calls to the power of his love of cooking for others." Eve told him and took his hand, leading him back to the campfire, "Everyone! Clear the kitchen! Adam's gonna try making that stew again!"

--

Fredrik sat in the background, watching as Wren pulled out a new batch of fresh ingredients. Caleb was alternately examining the salvaged books for information and keeping a watchful eye on his friend. Eve sat nearby her brother, smiling gently at him.

"He's gonna ruin it _again_." Fredrik chastised loudly.

"Shut up, Freddy." Caleb grumbled.

"Well, he is! Hey! Former Chef! Why don'tcha quit while we're all still alive?!"

"**Shut up, Freddy!**"

"Let's go back to basics, Adam." Eve murmured, "Forget about the here and now. Forget that you're the Wonder Chef for now. The title is meaningless anyway in the grand scheme of things." Wren glanced sideways at her, questioning. "You're my little brother, not the ancient savior of the world!" Eve went on with a smile, "Come on, Twin! I could use a nice, hot stew! I've been out all day, practicing to be a model, and I'm beat! Think back to when we were kids, just you and me and Daddy's cooking pot. Back to when you cooked just because you loved to do it!" Wren nodded, cracking a small smile and getting to work.

Caleb set aside the books at last and told stories of the adventure in Moria, Eve sang childhood songs and Pepper cooed and clacked happily, sniffing at the air as Wren added ingredients to the stew, relaxing and slowly returning to the rhythm of pouring himself into the art of cooking. He laughed at something the doll said and looked back at Caleb.

"That's not true and you know it, Caleb! **You** ran away from those monsters as much as **I** did!" he declared and returned to sprinkling in the satays, tasting the stew after mixing it all in. He added another sprinkling and rolled his eyes at another comment, ignoring the Asgard cook as he continued to declare that Wren would mess up again. After a few more minutes, he took another sip and smiled brightly, "Okay! Soup's on! Again!"

The group served themselves again and dug into the fresh stew. Pepper was the first to cheer, bounding about the campsite happily after devouring her second meal. Eve set down her empty bowl and thrust a fist into the air with a victory whoop as Fredrik grumbled and muttered under his breath.

"You **did** it!" Eve declared, "It tastes absolutely _heavenly_! Just like you used to make it!" Caleb grinned, watching them.

"See? I knew you could do it." he remarked and nodded in agreement with Eve as both looked at the confused chef, "Doubt tends to flavor cooking badly, especially if there's no reason for that doubt to exist."

"You **knew**?!" Wren exclaimed in shock, "Why didn't you ever tell me?!"

"Because I wouldn't have known how to help you get over it. Besides, letting you find out yourself makes the victory that much more permanent, because then you can keep it up." the doll replied. Eve hugged her brother.

"That's all there is to it, Adam! Whenever you cook, remember what's in your heart and believe in it. You loved to cook, so put that love back into it and you'll recover your skills." she cheered, "Then no one can **ever** dispute your title! You'll truly be the Wonder Chef, the gourmet who cooks with love!"

"Yeah... now I can see why you're called the Wonder Chef..." Fredrik muttered begrudgingly. Wren smiled at the group.

"Thanks." he murmured and bowed in appreciation, only to receive another whap on the head by the Asgard cook's ladle. "OW! What was **that** for?!" he yelled, sitting back and rubbing his head with both hands.

"For forgetting how to cook like this to begin with! You're the **Wonder Chef**, for Martel's sake!" Fredrik admonished the blonde, "Keep in mind who you are when you're running around the world! Your history and memories help you cook, too! Heritage adds flavor to life!"

"Geez, you can be such a pain." Wren griped in annoyance, glaring at the older cook.

* * *

In the morning, Fredrik was packed and ready to head back to his hometown. After giving Wren another whap for slipping up on making breakfast (forcing enthusiasm into making omelets created a ketchup-covered mess), he went on his way, studying a list of new recipes the blonde copied out for him. Eve giggled behind her hand, then kissed her brother carefully where a new bump grew on his head.

"Take care, Twin! And next time, introduce me to your little girlfriend!" she teased and jumped onto her dragon to return to Hima.

"What girlfriend?" Caleb asked as Wren checked his pack for some quick remedy for his headache. Eve pat her dragon and thought it over.

"She was kinda pretty. Black hair and brown eyes. But she looked like a pack of animals ran her over, her clothes were almost totally destroyed." she finally recalled, "I told her you were here, but I guess she hasn't shown up yet. Well, see ya!"

"Be careful! Stay close to Father at all times!" Wren urged, ignoring his quest for pain relief at the moment. Eve gave him a strange look. "Trust me on this; the Council isn't happy with me right now, and I don't want anything happening to you because of me."

"Ooookay." Eve murmured and shrugged, "I'll be fine. And the Council only has power if majority rules for them so don't worry about them. _Arrivederci_, Little Brother!" She waved cheerfully, then flew off for Hima.

"Whatever language you and Eve like using had better be explained to me one day." Caleb growled at the young Wonder Chef, "Because it's really annoying to hear it and have my language module throw a spasmodic fit trying to translate it." Wren shot him an irritated look as he returned to searching for a way to deaden his headache. "As for what she said in normal tongue... That sounded like Ginger." Caleb mused over the description of the girl Eve had met, "Man, what **now**? We don't have time to deal with that spy!"

"Why would her uniform be torn up?" Wren pondered aloud and earned a second glare from the redhead. "What now?!" he griped, "I wasn't using any other language!"

"What are you doing thinking about her clothes?" Caleb growled, eyeing him with a raised eyebrow. The chef turned pink, eyes widening in surprise. "You pervert."

"I'm _not_ a pervert!" Wren cried in embarrassment and waved his arms as Pepper snickered behind his back, "L-let's go to the next seal! Balacruf, right?! Let's go, let's go!"


	2. Chapter 2

Ch 2

The Balacruf Mausoleum had seen far better days. Crawling around inside the ruins of an ancient tomb, watching out for still live monsters and listening to Wren shriek at every skeleton they happened to stumble across, Caleb began to wonder if it had really been a good idea to let the chef tag along after all.

"I **told** you to wait outside for me." the doll muttered as he sat before one tablet of writing, recording it in his memory for later storage. Wren sat nearby him, rocking back and forth as he hugged his knees and stared wide-eyed out at the wreckage.

"I'm n-not afraid... Mmm n-not s-scared... Mmm ju-just a lil' c-c-cold..." the chef mumbled, eyes darting around in search of yet another thing that could jump out to startle him.

"Think about Ginger. **That** should warm you up." Caleb remarked with a grin and earned a whap to the head.

"You're a _sick_ man, Caleb!" Wren yelled and went back to keeping watch, "When can we go?"

"In a bit. I'm almost done. Why not make something to eat? I'm sure Pepper's hungry." the doll replied and the mana beast lifted her head with a smile, looking right at Wren expectantly. It was the first time since entering the wrecked tomb that she had actually looked cheerful.

"You just want me to practice some more." the chef returned in annoyance but pulled out his ingredients anyway. "Where to after this?"

"Thoda Geyser. I've been putting it off for too long. What's the closest teleportation point to it?"

"Palmacosta. But it's at the bottom of the sea and I don't have a point set up in New Palmacosta yet." Wren replied and held out a bowl of fruit cocktail for the mana beast. "I was going to go and make one when I ran into that ambush at the Ozette Ruins."

"And you never got around to it since then..."

_"It was on my To-Do list!"_ the chef protested irritably.

The last of the tablets was fully recorded and Caleb pulled out the reader/writer device once more, placing his fingertips onto the small panel to connect directly to the data crystal. While the doll worked on recording all of the collected information into the gem, Wren began to make his way back out of the mausoleum, unwilling to wait for his benefactor to finish and lead the way. Pepper trotted after him, mimicking his yells each time the Wonder Chef spotted yet another pile of bones with a sword and shield.

Eventually, though, she grew sick of the screaming and promptly bopped Wren on the head after they ran into a skeleton warrior on its last legs. Once the blonde chef was down and out, Pepper hit the monster once with a short burst of _Mana Light_, then carefully picked up her new charge by the collar and trotted on. Caleb could deal with Wren's yelling by simply shutting off his audio receptors, making him deaf to everything around him. Pepper had no such luxury, so making someone else quiet for a while was the best she could do, and since she hadn't _quite_ perfected the art of mental suggestion of sleep without giving the Wonder Chef another nosebleed -which would result in a **severe** loss of snacks from Caleb- a whap to the cranium would have to suffice.

Outside the mausoleum, the air was fresh and clean, a welcome respite after having been inside a musty old tomb for too long. Pepper gave the air a good sniff, flapped her wings free of dust and cobwebs, then walked over to the campsite where the three friends had spent the night earlier. Wren chose that time to finally revive and look around groggily. Once he realized what had happened, he proceeded to very calmly glare over his shoulder at the mana beast.

"You didn't have to hit me." he grumbled and folded his arms over his chest, pouting, "And put me down! I'm not a cat!" Pepper shrugged and opened her mouth, dumping him onto the ground. "Ow! That hurt!" The mana beast snickered and mimicked his cry.

"Ow ow ow!" she called, howling out the sound as she turned in a circle, "Ow ow wow!"

To pass time until Caleb returned, Wren practiced making the new fudge brownie recipe. The sheet of paper given to him by the Wonder Organization called for an oven to bake the dessert. Wren had to make one with the bricks and stones that were part of the mausoleum ruins. Pepper helped cheerfully once she understood what it was the Wonder Chef was up to, and set a near perfect fire under the makeshift oven. The redheaded doll exited Balacruf Mausoleum just as Wren slid the tray of brownie mix into the stone fixture.

"What are you doing?" Caleb asked in confusion, stuffing some pieces of quartz and a few broken relics into the packs meant for Pepper to carry.

"Making brownies. I'm positive I got the batter done right." the blonde replied, setting another stone down to close off the oven. "So, you got everything?"

"Yeah, more stuff I can't translate. Who writes in pictograph, anyway? I only saw a few words here and there in elven!" Caleb remarked in exasperation and looked around, "We're gonna have to sail from here to Thoda Island... Ah! Over there!" He pointed to the south section of the peninsula. "There was a good section of shore near the bridge we used to get here; it leads towards the water nice and gradually. We can set the Elemental Cargo ship into the ocean there and head towards Thoda."

"There aren't any skeleton monsters in Thoda, right?" Wren asked hopefully.

"Nope. It's the Seal of Water, so there should only be fish and other aquatic life there. You can make tons of pescatore and seafood stews there!" Caleb suggested with a grin. The blonde stuck out his tongue.

"_Pbbt!_ You just want me to stuff Pepper till she's fat! Speaking of Pepper, did you know she knocked me out in that tomb? Wham! Right to my head!" he exclaimed and shot her an irritated glare. The mana beast only bat her eyes at him, bringing up an air of cute innocence. "About as sweet as a salt-covered lemon... brat..." Wren grumbled under his breath. Pepper snorted at him in response.

"I don't blame her. You kept screaming at those skeleton warriors. I wanted to stuff you into one of Pepper's sacks." the doll replied, ignoring the silent battle of wills before him. The chef shuddered at the memory of his first meeting with the undead warrior; he never knew he could carry his voice that loudly before

"Yuck. I **told** you I hated being around dead people, especially if they don't stay dead. I almost passed out in Presea's house and that was **after** Lloyd's group moved out the body for burial! No offense to the 'eternally resting' and all, but I'm allergic to death..." Wren griped resentfully, "Anyway, give me an hour to finish the brownies. Then lettuce leaf." Caleb shot him a venomous glare at the pun and Wren returned it with a slightly less malicious smile that was not quite out of place on the Wonder Chef's face.

The dessert, which finished baking sometime before the two friends could decide whether or not to try to kill each other over the blonde's sudden need to rebel, seemed almost too thick with chocolate and sweetness to be considered a success. Wren assured the group that it was definitely baked according to plan and promptly gave one to the mana beast to prove it. Pepper was in love with the recipe from the moment she bit into the chewy brownies. The young chef appeared to be pleased with himself.

"This is _great!_ I've got my old skill back! This time I was just following what felt right along with the written recipe!" he exclaimed. Caleb only grinned and shook his head knowingly.

"You never lost your skills, Wren. You just had to remember why you were cooking and how you felt when you cooked for others." he pointed out, "Now, let's get going, we only have five more seals to go!"

* * *

The Wonder Organization Headquarters was located deep within the mines of Hima. From within the safety of the rock and ore, hundreds of cooks and chefs worked to create recipes that would help the world stay healthy, happy and well fed. Estéfan Voraci, the former Wonder Chef, stood watch over the class of cooks that was currently studying how to modify their new recipes to combat the Dark Chef Alliance. A knock on the door to the classroom caught his attention and he excused himself from the room, walking out to see what was going on.

Eve stood in the hallway, smiling. The elderly chef mirrored it and hugged her.

"He's regained his ability, hasn't he?" Estéfan asked, "I knew Adam could do it!"

"He's going to finish the journey of seal-searching with his friend. I know he'll continue practicing those new recipes and things should be just fine." Eve reported and winked, "And until Adam comes back, I'll take over watching out for any Dark Chef activity." Estéfan pulled a golden disk from his pocket and handed it to her.

"If you are going to take on that portion of his duties then take this communicator with you. The Council of Gourmet Chefs has been acting strangely and I fear for the lives of both you and your brother." the elder chef murmured, "I have several cooks close to us investigating them to see what exactly is going on, but I am beginning to think that we should consider the option of evacuating to the village of Alvanista." Eve furrowed her brows in concern.

"Daddy? What's going on? Adam said the Council wasn't happy with him. Are we going to have to step down as Wonder Chef Family?" she questioned worriedly, "What's going to happen to Adam if the Council tries to take away his title?"

"Don't worry. I'll handle everything. Go on to the information center and keep your brother informed on Dark Chef activity. I have something I need to do myself." the gentleman chef told her and watched as she headed down the corridor to the information center. He looked into the classroom. "Everyone! Continue practicing! I will return shortly!" With that, Estéfan made his own way towards the dragon stalls.

* * *

For the Wonder Organization, the information center was the place to go to keep an eye on the movement and shipping of food all around the world. It wasn't always reliable, as was the case when Master Chef DuGorge of the Dark Chefs managed to run off with two ships full of ingredients and Meltokio steel. Eve stepped past the sliding doors and took in the scene of several cooks all studying screens of data as maps refreshed themselves on the many monitors in the large room.

"Okay, people! Let me have it! What's going on with the world of cooking?" Eve declared after a moment. The cooks turned to look at her in confusion, then jumped as they caught on to who she was.

"Not much activity on the Dark Chefs' side of things. They've been laying low since the sugar and satay incident several weeks ago." one of them reported and looked concerned, "I don't get it. They had a major victory with taking all that food, but they haven't even come out of hiding to gloat about it."

"That **is** strange." Eve agreed and studied the main screen with the other chefs in concern, "Well, what about checking the shipping routes of supplies being sent by the Lezareno Company in Altamira? They move a lot of food around, don't they?"

"They've been hit a few times before, but since the incident at the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge with the sugars and satays there haven't been any attacks on those shipments." another cook replied and tapped at a few keys on the console, "Of the cargo that had been taken during the previous attacks, it's been mostly medicinal herbs and some dried fruit. It didn't fit DuGorge's usual targets, so we figured it wasn't him. Maybe we were wrong?"

Eve blinked in confusion and paced the room, thinking about the reports. It didn't make sense. According to what she learned from her grandmother, Iviana, Master Chef Gluttonious DuGorge always came out to brag about his triumphs. The Dark Chef leader found it to be a laugh to try to demoralize the Wonder Cooks. Why would he just drop out of view now? Had something else happened to keep the Dark Chefs in the shadows?

"Maintain contact with our agents in the field. If anything hits any major food shipment, alert me immediately and send a message to the Wonder Chef." Eve ordered and turned to leave, "Also, look into the location of the Dark Chef base. We've **got** to find out where those creeps are hiding."

"Yes, ma'am! _Bon appétit!_" the cooks saluted and brought out a few snacks to help keep them going for the long haul.

* * *

Sailing the ocean to get to Thoda Island took longer than either Caleb, Wren, or even Pepper would have liked. Days of staring at blue waters and distant land, with only each other to keep from going nuts with boredom... it wasn't long before the three friends began to catch their own variation of cabin fever. Even with Pepper's toys and games that Caleb recalled from the many books he read for personal enjoyment and leisure, none of them could take looking at each other for much longer.

"Pull over and dock somewhere already!" Wren complained loudly, half draped over the back of a seat. Caleb grumbled under his breath and set the ship's course for the nearest shoreline. In less than a few hours, the EC was moored at a beach and all three of them raced onto dry ground.

"Okay, we'll hang out here for a while and... hey!" Caleb exclaimed in pleasant surprise as he looked at the distance. Buildings lined the shore not far from them. "That must be New Palmacosta! The people of the city moved to rebuild on the other side of the country."

"Great! Then let's go and get a decent place to sleep and I can finally make that teleportation link." Wren suggested brightly as Pepper dug into the earth with her claws and stretched. Caleb blinked and peered at the city, quickly gauging the distance in his mind.

"Well, it would be faster if we sailed. We should make it there by nightfall if we leave now." he pointed out and headed back for the EC. Both Wren and Pepper groaned in resignation and followed the doll.

* * *

New Palmacosta was an improved version of the old city, built with help from the Meltokio monarchy as a show of good will. Neil still governed the city as the new Governor-General, along with a council of elected officials to advise and help keep the city running. Pepper stuck to her mental manipulations and made sure the people didn't think too much about her walking along behind her friends as they made their way to the nearest hotel.

Skipper's Haven had gotten a little more expensive, but the price seemed to be worth it. Day was waning and Wren was growing snappish without a place to rest that didn't have mana beast fur or ancient books taking up the bulk of the space. Caleb yielded the bed to him and took a seat in one of the imported chairs from Meltokio, closing his eyes as he set himself up for a nightly review of all that he had learned so far. Pepper was curled up downstairs in one of the stalls, already fast asleep.

The morning came with perfect weather as the group checked out of the hotel and decided to give Wren a break by going to a restaurant for a change. Pepper reshielded herself with the mental suggestions that radiated out to the citizens of New Palmacosta as they headed down the cobblestone streets to the center of the city. Caleb had the idea of dropping the books he had salvaged from the Tower of Mana off at the New Palmacosta Academy as a way of saving them. Wren wanted to eat first, and something that he didn't have to cook himself.

"It's not the first time I've done it. I liked to eat lunch a lot at the restaurant in the Altamira hotel and I even recruited some of the Wonder Cooks from their staff. Then someone leaked the fact that I went there and the place became incredibly popular." he had pointed out and looked momentarily irritated, "It's kind of embarrassing now that I think about it. I can't even get my favorite spot sometimes, it gets so crowded in there around noon."

The restaurant they chose to have breakfast in was fine enough, though Caleb had to keep waving away the waitresses. "Fake it, Caleb, they're starting to stare at you." Wren muttered as he shoved a plate of eggs in his direction, "Just stir it around on the plate and keep drinking your water. I promise not to get mad at you for wasting food this time."

"I can't keep guzzling water like this; I'll spring a leak." the doll muttered back, "I don't know how much I can hold anyway." Wren rushed the rest of the meal and the group quickly left as the cook stepped out of the kitchen with a tray of sweets for display.

* * *

Thoda Island wasn't very far from New Palmacosta now that the city had changed locations. Once the EC was launched from the port, it was only another hour of fast sailing before they reached the wrecked island. Pepper eyed the abundance of water and promptly sat down with a sour face. Both Wren and Caleb used every bit of sweet-talking and treat-bribery they could come up with to get her to follow them into the wreckage.

The Seal of Water wasn't as rich with history as the other seals had been. Too much damage from both the Kharlan Tree's roots and the water system itself had destroyed anything of true value that could easily be found. Caleb still insisted on collecting samples of the quartz and pottery found in the first room of the seal, then ran a series of tests on the water itself. Pepper lapped at the pools as Wren chased after the fish monsters with a filet knife.

"Get back here! I'm one snapper short of the perfect pescatore!" he yelled as Caleb sat in front of a pile of rubble, digging around for relics. The doll looked over his shoulder with a frown.

"Wren, stop scaring the fish and kill it already." he told him reproachfully. The chef kept racing after the floating creatures, this time with a fish fork in addition to the knife. "You're a sick man, Wren."

"No, I'm just hungry. I **said** stay still!" the blonde went on in exasperation, "I know I like using fresh ingredients, but this is _ridiculous_!" There was the sound of splashing, then an explosion. "Ha! Gotcha! ... Ah, great, you splattered the rest of the meat all over the floor, you stupid fish." Caleb sighed and stood up, jingling a few loose bits of pottery and monster remains in his hand like coins. He watched with a frown as Wren marched back into the main room with a snapper in his grip, fish gut blasted all over his shirt and pants, and something small and shimmering in his free hand.

"Congratulations. You've reinvented your look for the world." the doll remarked sarcastically, "Geez, Wren. You tend to get violent when you're hungry. Goddess, you're going to reek later..."

"It dropped this." the chef interrupted and walked up to Caleb, handing him a small, tear-shaped gem. "It might come in handy for you, so hang onto it." Caleb accepted the item as Wren walked back to the small fire Pepper had set up for them, then slipped the Mermaid's Tear into the same pocket as the lump of white silver he had picked up in Iselia Ranch long ago. "Now, to finish that pescatore... Pepper, get away from my cooking pot!"

* * *

With the Seal of Water done, all that remained were the four seals in Tethe'alla. Caleb checked his 'maps', the cartoonish sketches and scrawls drawn out by Zelos Wilder during moments of boredom of each of the eight seals and several other places the Heroes of Union had gone during World Reunification. Of the Tethe'alla seals, there were the Seals of Ice, Earth, Lightning and Darkness, all of them in pristine condition. Wren looked at a few of them and burst into laughter, hanging onto Pepper's fur for dear life as the group walked from Sybak to the ports. The closest teleportation point to a Summon Spirit Seal was the City of Universities; the seal was the Seal of Lightning.

"Stop it." Caleb muttered as he rolled the sheets up and put them away. Pepper walked freely in Sybak as the residents already knew of her, many even liked her. Early in Caleb's journey for archival, the mana beast had spent a few months as the Imperial Research Academy's mascot. The whole city loved Pepper's gentleness and people parted in the streets to allow her, Caleb and Wren to pass freely.

"Zelos is pretty good when it comes to cooking but as an artist, well..." Wren snickered. The redhead shrugged and sighed in half-agreement, then brightened at the sight of a newly opened candy shop.

"Hold on for a bit. I'm gonna get some treats." Caleb remarked, holding up a hand to halt the group before running for the shop. Wren paused and lifted an eyebrow as his friend disappeared into the store. He looked up at Pepper as she tried to strike up a conversation with a stray dog using 'Ow' and 'Wow' as her vocabulary.

"Treats for who? You or me?" the chef asked her and stuck out his tongue when the image of the mana beast came into his mind. "_Pbbt!_ You're such a pig. If you get too fat off of sweets, I'm gonna put you on a strict veggie diet." he threatened. Pepper turned to look at him with narrowed eyes. "I mean it. You don't want Caleb to be friends with a mana beast who's too big to fly, do you?" the blonde asked with a lopsided grin.

When Caleb returned from his little shopping trip, he was greeted with the scene of Pepper's mouth completely engulfing the young chef's head as he waved a fist furiously into the air.

"Peppermint FireBlossom, you spit Wren's head out right **now**!" the doll yelled in disapproval and she opened her mouth, allowing her captive to stagger back and pat his head frantically, ignoring the saliva dripping all over him.

"My hat! She's got my hat still!" he gasped in shock as Caleb ran up to scold the mana beast. Pepper coughed and spat out the white chef hat on the ground, smacking her mouth with distaste. "Oh, there it is. Ugh." Wren muttered as he picked it up and frowned at the fluid dripping from the fabric.

"You're gonna need another bath, and I'm gonna have to wash those clothes again." Caleb sighed and wagged a finger at Pepper. "I don't know what happened out here, but you shouldn't have played Mana Beast Tamer with Wren like that! No treats for you!" he scolded. Pepper whined and aimed a paw at the chef, projecting the image of Wren teasing her. Caleb turned on the blonde, still wagging his finger. "And **you** stop teasing Pepper! She's still just a kid and a very big one at that! You know, she could have bitten you, so consider yourself lucky that she only drooled on your head!" he reprimanded the chef.

"Like **that** was so much better?" Wren grumbled, pulling on the soaked hat and allowing it to collapse into a flat beret, "Anyway, she's spoiled. She thinks all the foods you buy are treats for her."

"Bath! Now!" the doll ordered, poking at Wren's chest with the tip of his steel spoon. The group headed towards a nearby inn to check into a room for the day.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch 3

"We've got an attack on a delivery of milk from the farms around Meltokio!" the halls of the Wonder Organization Headquarters seemed to rumble from the alert. Eve scrambled for her dragon as she and a small group of the best chefs on hand made for the rich city. "We're sending an alert to the Wonder Chef! _Bon appétit_, Ms. Voraci!"

"_Bon appétit!_ Get my brother to Meltokio's farmlands fast! Warn any other dairy producers that they might be hit next!" Eve shouted and her team rushed from a tunnel on the opposite side of the mountain to the open sky. They blazed past Estéfan as he returned to the same cavern.

"What is going on?" he demanded of the attendants within the hangar. They hurriedly explained and the chef narrowed his eyes, "I see. There is still far more that needs to be done..."

--

The delivery men in charge of taking dairy products from the farms to Meltokio and Sybak weren't sure of what was going on. Things were running smoothly until a band of strange-looking thieves jumped all over their Elemental Cargos, throwing food of all things. At first they laughed. What did they expect to do with several potfuls of **rice**? The laughter quickly turned to cries of shock and horror as the pudding began to engulf them in huge masses.

DuGorge stood watch with a smile as his agents began to redirect the shipment of milk, cheese, and butter from Meltokio to the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge. It had taken little over a month to get things back on track, especially since they had lost a majority of the Meltokio steel meant to equip the whole Dark Chef Alliance with far superior utensils. He had to scramble around Sylvarant for the difference and it had not been cheap. But now, candies and sweets were beginning to spread out around Tethe'alla, slowly at first, but as the experiment went on and data was collected, DuGorge began to increase the potency of the candies' ingredients.

He just needed to get more of them.

As the Dark Chefs moved the line of ECs off, the shrill scream of transport dragons caught their attentions and DuGorge growled under his breath as he looked up at the flock of dragons coming their way. He still wasn't entirely sure how it was the Wonder Cooks caught onto his schemes so fast, but at least they didn't know what he was doing with the ingredients. In irritation he signaled to Sauri and aimed his fork at the lead dragon.

"Get rid of them, Sauri! And try not to fail me utterly again!" he ordered and the petite cook nodded before dashing off to face her opponent, Exsphere glittering on her hand as it caught the fading sunlight.

--

The Wonder Cooks dismounted once the dragons were on the ground, then rushed to stop the Dark Chefs from making off with the ECs. Sauri stood in their way. Her eyes flashed angrily once Eve was close enough to be recognized, leading her group into battle.

"You! I'll make you **pay** for making a fool out of me! Prepare to...!" she began to yell as Eve pulled up to a stop and pulled her spoon from where it rested on her belt.

"Meet my Baker? I've heard **that** before." the blonde cook shot back and threw her arm forward to have the Wonder Cooks rush past her to finish the job. "So, ready for the second course?" The other woman didn't speak, just ground her teeth and shot forward at her fastest speed. Eve darted aside and threw out several cookies, hoping the icing on them would stick to the Dark Chef agent and slow her down.

"Cookies?! Are you **stupid** or what?!" Sauri laughed derisively, her golden teaspoon smashing the treats to pieces as she moved about the field. Eve paused and tried to keep her eyes on the tiny agent, though all she could really see were fading after-images of her body.

"What's this? How is she moving so _fast_? She didn't even eat the candy that gave her the speed last time!" Eve whispered, moving to try to avoid being a stationary target. She cried painfully as the golden spoon suddenly collided with her stomach, knocking her backwards onto the ground. "Owww!" Sauri seemed to shimmer into view as she stopped to gloat.

"Weren't expecting that, were we?" she purred. Eve struggled to sit up, hair coming loose from the pearly barrette that once held the long tresses in place. "My Exsphere was granted to me to help maximize my speed potential, making me the fastest cook in the world. The true Queen of the Kitchen! And you're gonna be the first to taste defeat at my hands!" Sauri declared and brought the spoon around for another attack.

"I hate short-order cooks. So fattening and full of themselves." Eve muttered as she brought her legs together and flipped back and up, narrowly avoiding Sauri's leap and slash. Slamming her hands onto the ground for stability, the blonde swept downward, flipping once more to smash her feet under the other cook's jaw, hurling her back. Sauri flew backwards, but managed to land on her feet, rubbing her chin painfully. Eve landed on her own feet, braced for a retaliatory attack.

"Little witch. Think you're _sooo_ hot just 'cause you're the sister to that pathetic little wimp of a Wonder Chef. Trust me, girl, he's **not** going to be Wonder Chef much longer; not with our glorious leader's ingenious plan in effect!" Sauri growled and looked back at the troop of Dark Chefs hurling more rice pudding at the Wonder Cooks. They were actually managing to win, and the ECs were rushing to escape. "Well, since **our** job's almost done, I'm afraid that I won't have the time to finish you off." she remarked and grinned evilly, "But rest assured that I **WILL** kill you for your audacity at trying to one-up me. _Riiiight_ after I make you watch me turn your brother's guts to mush. Hah hah! See ya, Loser!" With that, Sauri blew Eve a kiss and raced off, using her teaspoon to catch air for such long distances she almost looked like she was flying. Eve watched her run away and dropped to the ground as her legs gave out from under her.

"Owww... Adam, where **were** you?" she sighed as the two Wonder Cooks that managed to keep from getting hit by pudding rushed to free their comrades.

* * *

Caleb turned the beeping golden disc in his hands, trying to find a way to open the blasted thing. It had started beeping shortly after Wren had gone to the shower room, throwing out the messed clothes as per the doll's orders. The green and white travel suit was currently being tended to by the maids of the inn while another two kept Pepper entertained with games and stories. Caleb heard the disc beeping in Wren's pack and, after a moment of indecisiveness, quickly pulled it out and started poking at it. It refused to open to him and the sound was growing both insistent and annoying.

"Probably another one of those things that can only be opened by the Wonder Chef. Damn thing... is **everything** Wren deals with tuned to his particular mana signature or something?" Caleb grumbled as he gave the communication device a shake. "If I didn't know better, I'd say Mithos had a hand in the Wonder Chef Family's lineage as well, what with the similarities between them and the Chosen of Mana lineages." He paused to consider it. "I think I'll ask him about that." The disc stopped beeping and he stopped shaking the object, staring at it in confusion. Had it broken? Caleb shoved it back into Wren's pack as the maid knocked on the door to their room.

"Excuse me, sir. Your companion's suit is ready." the young lady reported as Caleb threw a pillowcase onto his head and put on some sunglasses before opening the door for her. The doll thanked her and accepted the folded clothing, handing her a tip for her work and ignoring her look of confusion. Setting them aside, Caleb let his curiosity get the better of him and dug through Wren's pack again. The young chef stuck his head out of the room in time to see the redhead almost bury his own in the faded brown pack that had served to carry Wren's supplies for so long.

"Hey! What are you doing with that?!" Wren shouted and couldn't help laughing as Caleb jumped in shock, the pack still stuffed over his head as small items dropped out around him.

"It wasn't me!" the doll cried, voice muffled by the worn leather bag. Wren took the time to grab his clothes and shake his head.

"Leave that alone. I'm pretty sure there's nothing of historical value in there, unless you count that miniature of Grandmother and her frying pan." he added and ducked back into the other room. Caleb freed himself of the pack and blinked at the closing door, then sighed.

"Sorry, it's a habit. I get that nosiness from Zelos." he apologized and began cleaning up.

--

Once the group was back on the road to the Sybak ports, Caleb mentioned the beeping disc. Wren halted in shock and dug it out in a hurry.

"Why didn't you **say** so earlier?!" he exclaimed and pressed his thumb against the rim, startling the doll as the top half of the disc popped open. "Father! It's me! What's happening? Why was I called?" The projection of Estéfan shimmered into view, a sternly disappointed look on his face.

_"Adam! Why didn't you respond to the communicator earlier?! Your sister was in need of your aid only an hour ago!"_ the elderly chef demanded gruffly, _"The Dark Chef Alliance attacked a shipment of dairy products and ran off with the entire lot of them! And your sister..."_

"Eve? What's happened to Eve? Is she okay?!" Wren blurted worriedly, mind racing to thoughts of his twin. He had felt something wasn't right earlier, but chalked it up as a side effect of skipping lunch.

_"Eve is fine, just dazed by the attacks. It appears that DuGorge is equipping all of his best agents with Exspheres."_ Estéfan returned but gave his son a withering glare, _"Though I have the distinct feeling that things would have turned to our favor had the Wonder Chef shown up to level the battlefield. You __**know**__ the Council will be adding this to their little pile of ammunition to be used against you."_ Wren winced.

"I'm sorry. I would have gone, but I didn't hear the device go off. I was... busy." he mumbled lamely.

_"Too busy to be the Wonder Chef? Adam, you can't just go off and leave the responsibilities and duties of what you are behind. You were born to be Wonder Chef, and that is your foremost duty to this family and this Organization."_ his father lectured, _"For Martel's sake, Adam, if you keep this up, the Council will have everything they need to force your resignation! You __**know**__ what will happen then!"_

"Father, this isn't fair! I've risked **everything** to help save the culinary world time and time again! What is _wrong_ with the Council's judgment that they've begun playing this stupid political game?!" Wren returned angrily, "We're _**chefs**_! We cook and bake and make food, for the love of Martel! When did we become a government without a country?!"

"Wren, calm down." Caleb told him and turned to the projection, "The error was mine, Sir Estéfan. I distracted Wren from his duties for the sake of investigating what this object was and didn't think to tell him of the alert until long after it ended." He sighed softly. "I'm to blame for the Dark Chefs' victory, not Wren. Just like I'm to blame for the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge incident."

_"That may be the case, but the Council is going to try to use __**you**__ against Adam as well. You aren't one of us, and they see you as equally a great a threat to our secrecy and safety as Adam."_ Estéfan murmured and looked back towards Wren, "_I can't accept another incident like this. There is far too much at stake. Until you produce an heir of your own, Adam, or convince Duke Bryant to take your place, you must remain Wonder Chef, and be held to all the responsibilities that come with the title. That includes the ultimate penalty for a failure that cannot be forgiven."_

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, Father. Send my love to Eve and tell her I apologize for my failure to arrive." Wren relented, a defeated expression on his face, and closed the disc with a clap, "Thanks, Caleb, but you didn't have to take the blame for me. I'm the one who failed to live up to my father's standards, not you."

"It's the truth. And stop beating yourself up; you have enough enemies as it is, you don't need to add your own conscience to the list." the doll told him firmly and reached back to pet Pepper absentmindedly, "Though I'm curious to know why the Dark Chefs would want so much dairy on hand. Perhaps they're planning on making the world's largest gratin? A cheesecake big enough to flatten Meltokio? Maybe an ocean of butter?" He grinned as a smile slowly grew on his friend's face at the ridiculous ideas he tossed out. "That's better!" Caleb laughed as Wren warmed up to the quest again, "Let's get going, then. The Seal of Lightning waits for no man! Or chef. Or mana beast..."

* * *

The Temple of Lightning crackled with electricity shooting down from on high, striking anything that had a point to it. Caleb had to use the Sorcerer's Ring Altessa crafted for him in order to gain the ability to proceed through the temple as someone had restored the colored blocks that barred many of the doorways. Wren wrapped the Wonder Fork in a blanket and strapped it sideways to Pepper's harness to avoid being struck by a bolt.

"I feel so weird without it on me." he muttered with a shake of his head as they walked up the steps to the altar where Volt once was sealed, "No matter how much I may despise being Wonder Chef at times, I guess there's no helping the fact that it really is who I am." Caleb knelt before the seal, studying it carefully.

"That's just how it is, Wren. Things don't quite seem right when something that's almost always been a part of you isn't with you for even a short while." he explained, "Think about what I'm going through. For more than half a year since I was created, I was a lifeless being. Sort of like an Exsphere but without that whole soul-sucking ability. My only purpose had been to act as a spare vessel for Zelos. That's why I look like him."

"But Zelos has no need of a vessel. He's got his own body. He's not Martel." Wren pointed out as Pepper sniffed at the seal with the doll beside her.

"Well, that was before some crazy angel decided to run off with it so he could pull a Mithos plot on the world. Long story short, Zelos got his own body back and I became Altessa's servant of sorts. But I gained more sentience than I should have had because of what Zelos did."

"That whole healing with mana thing?"

"Yup. Martel said I can't be that alive without a soul, so she handed me one and here I am now after about two years. As alive as you. I'm so used to having a soul of my own, my own mind and will, that if I were to lose them..." Caleb trailed off and stood up. Wren blinked at the sudden motion. "This building seems to be made with magitechnology that was to channel electricity for something. Look at those lines in the wall. See how they all flow downwards? How much you wanna bet that they lead to something down below that uses the electricity?" Caleb changed the subject so fluidly, the chef lost track of the original conversation.

"Half my allowance for half your candy!" Wren answered brightly and hopped on Pepper's back, "Race you downstairs!" With a laugh, he and the mana beast flew down from the altar as Caleb shouted and ran for the stairs to catch up.

"No fair! That's my mana beast and you know it! Pepper! Roll over and dump him off!" the doll cried jokingly and laughed when she only stuck her tongue out and circled the air, allowing him to reach ground level before the chef. "Thanks! Ha ha! I win!"

"Not fair!" Wren whined as Pepper chose to finally land and allow him to climb off. Caleb grinned shamelessly at him, then winced and pulled his hands over his 'heart'. Wren looked concerned. "Are you okay? That's about the fifth or sixth time you've done that since we got here." he murmured, stepping closer to help the doll.

"Um... it's nothing, really." Caleb returned weakly and gave his friend a tremulous smile, a mimicry of Zelos' own false grin, "It's just this place messing with my mana system. It'll pass once my body's flushed it out." After a moment, he straightened and gave a little sigh of relief. "There. I should be okay now." the doll remarked brightly and nodded his head towards the path he had pointed out, "Let's get going. The sooner I finish here, the sooner we can leave."

They followed the trails of wire and running current, locating a maintenance door well camouflaged in the corner. "I'm surprised the Heroes of Union hadn't found this the first time they ran through here." the chef murmured as Caleb poked at the door and deemed it safe to pull up.

"I'm pretty sure they had good reasons for skipping it. Hmm. It's a little dark down there and looks like a tight squeeze, too. Sorry, Pepper, looks like you'll have to stay up here." he remarked and smiled sheepishly as the mana beast wailed and rolled onto her back in pretended agony. "Oh, it won't be **that** bad. Careful, you don't want to squish Wren's fork." Wren pulled it free and slid it onto his back, warily keeping an eye on the bright flashes of lightning. The two climbed down the ladder into the tunnel and emerged in an underground cavern.

"Uhn!" Caleb grunted softly, doubling over as his hands flew up to his 'heart' and his face twisted almost painfully. Wren looked towards him in alarm. "It's... worse down here..." the doll managed to murmur.

"Maybe we should back out. We don't really need to know about this Seal, do we?" Wren suggested softly. Caleb shook his head, gasping as he pulled his hands away from himself. "Caleb, this temple is wreaking havoc on your body! You can't expect me to just let you get hurt by this place, do you?" the chef growled.

"I'll be fine. My body's already adjusting to minimize the effects." Caleb returned stubbornly, "Besides, I want to know what's causing it to begin with. Maybe then I can figure out a way to stop it." The blonde made a harsh, guttural sound in his throat, muttered something in the strange foreign tongue he often slipped into and shook his head disapprovingly. But in the end, he followed Caleb deeper into the cavern.

"Whoa." Wren murmured as they walked through the huge room to a strange machine that seemed to swell and crackle from all the electricity running through the temple. Caleb studied the floor carefully, tracing the pattern of grooves and lines from the machine to the walls and up to the ceiling, noting small etchings that they passed through to reach that high. "Wh-what is _that_?"

"It's not quite magitechnology; there's no amount of magic powering this machine. I think this was made using science." Caleb muttered and turned to study the machine itself with the chef.

"Science?" Wren echoed in confusion. The doll nodded.

"I read about it in the Moria Gallery. Magitechnology is half magic, right? The other half that creates it is called science. It's an ancient art that was nearly lost during the Ancient Kharlan War and Mithos' purgings, though parts of it are returning thanks to scholars and researchers like Raine." Caleb began, recalling what he learned from the Moria Gallery, "Science refers to technology developed to do things without the need for magic. It operates purely on the principles of facts and sound logic. In fact, automated dolls were originally the products of science, not magitechnology. They ran off of different sources of power, like electricity." Wren nodded cautiously, still trying to grasp the idea of science as an individual form of technology as he walked up to the large machine. "That's why I've been reacting the way I have since we stepped onto this island, before we even entered the temple. I'm a doll made with magitechnology, so the mana of electricity affects me far more than just the current itself." Caleb finished and pointed at the walls and floor, "Anyway, look at this. All of the patterns and wires seem to come straight to this. It's like the machine is feeding off of all the lightning, but it's not using it all up, more like storing it."

"These gauges..." Wren remarked suddenly and reached out to touch the faces of the various dials and illuminated bars. "They're... measuring something. Kilo... Kilowatts? No, kilowatt hours. What's a kilowatt?" The Wonder Chef studied the gauges a bit longer, then frowned in concern, "Um, Caleb? This thing is nearing its capacity of storage."

"How do you know?" Caleb asked in confusion as he scratched his head, staring up at the towering machine. Wren pressed at a few keys on a console near it.

"That's what I can understand from the readings on the gauges. It's all written in Old Runic and elven language. Let's see. If it's getting full, then there must be something that can get rid of the electricity so it doesn't explode." he remarked, "I mean, how many times has this happened? It's got to be doing something that keeps the lightning from building up and turning this whole place into rubble." Caleb nodded absently and followed another set of grooves to a large structure on the other side of the room. He looked up at what appeared to be a pair of giant poles only a few feet apart, giant spheres of metal on their tips. Thick cables wrapped around the bases of the two poles led into the floor, probably into the earth itself. He knelt down and traced his fingers along the grooves in the stone that made up the temple floor. The patterns weren't glowing, no current was running through the grooves and lines.

"Does this have anything to do with it? It's not turned on or anything." he asked. Wren looked over his shoulder at him, then gazed up at the metal structure.

"Maybe. Let me try switching power over to it." he answered and returned his attention to the console. He pressed a few more keys and Caleb watched a stream of lightning course through the grooves and wires to the two poles, a searing white and blue that flowed as liquid light towards their destination. Instantly, the poles were charged and electricity jumped between the two spheres, leaping back and forth as the excess energy plunged downward and dissipated into the earth. Wren watched the gauges drop in pressure and level out to green. "Looks like that did it." he murmured. Caleb reached a few fingertips into the groove out of curiosity.

"Okay, this thing stores electricity and then it powers those poles when it gets too full..." Wren began to understand the system when he saw a bright flash of light against the wall before him, then both felt and heard a loud thunderclap that nearly knocked him senseless. Whirling around in a dazed shock, the chef barely saw the doll get hurled away from the floor, smashing back first into the far wall before collapsing in a heap. "Caleb!"

Pepper could be heard shrieking from upstairs, her snout thrust into the open space as she tried to get in. She had been able to sense what had happened and wanted desperately to reach the two men below to help. Wren staggered up to the doll, pulled him out on the floor, then knelt by him to try to figure out what to do despite the pounding headache he received from the shockwave. Caleb was silent, eyes closed.

"Caleb! Wake up! Oh, geez, what do I **do**?!" Wren whimpered painfully, "If I could just _feed_ you something to make you better, I would! But you can't eat anything! Why didn't Altessa give you the ability to **eat** as well as cry?!" He looked up at the mana beast struggling to get down. "Pepper! Can you contact Martel?! Call Martel! Please!"

"Ow! Ow!" Pepper cried and her snout disappeared from view. Wren returned his attention to the doll as Caleb made a small choked sound.

"Caleb! Are you okay? Agh, of course you're not okay; that was stupid of me to ask! Come **on**, man, please wake up!" Wren babbled in rising panic. The doll groaned and managed to open his eyes halfway, gazing distantly through his friend into nothingness.

"R-r-r-r..." he gurgled, "Wrehhh... Wrrehn..." Caleb choked again and winced. "Vvverrr-lohhd..." Wren furrowed his brows in confusion.

"'Verload'? Overload? Ah! The mana of the lightning! It must have broken your crystals!" he exclaimed in understanding, then looked aghast, "Did it break all **three** of them?! My Goddess!"

"Uh... huh..." the doll whispered.

"Pepper! Can you make three new crystals?! Pepper! **Forget calling Martel!**" Wren yelled out and winced in pain as his head throbbed and the downy white snout of the mana beast reappeared. "Caleb needs three new mana crystals! Can you make the ones he needs?! Hurry!" the chef urged.

"Ow!" Pepper replied and the snout vanished once more. A few moments later, a perfectly formed six-sided crystal floated down the maintenance shaft. Wren ran up to collect it and hurried back to the doll.

"Caleb, I don't know how to put this in." he muttered and blinked as the redhead moved to open his shirt, then the skin-colored panel that hid the Tri-Crystal chamber. Three cracked crystals shone dully out at the chef, who stared in awe as Caleb plucked the new mana gem from his hand and carefully replaced it in the primary position, a space carved near where his heart should be. "What do I do with the broken one?"

"Give it to Pepper." Caleb replied, strength returning already as he struggled to sit up and remove the other crystals, "Ugh. Same with these. Pepper! Got three crystals in need of fixing!"

"Ow? Ow!" Pepper answered, snout stuffed into the opening once again. Wren frowned up at her as Caleb closed himself up and rubbed his head.

"I wish she'd learn new words already." he muttered and turned to his friend, "So what happened? How did you manage to stay functioning even with all the crystals broken?" Caleb blinked.

"Ah, I stuck my fingers in that groove there. The one with the current running through it. Dumb move." he replied bashfully and tapped himself on the chest, "Also, the Tri-Crystal System has this thing about streaming mana through me, so if the gems crack, there's always a little bit of energy in me to keep me conscious for a short while. It only really works if the crystal just cracks like this. If it completely shatters, like the primary did back in Moria, then I go into a brief shutdown while the secondary kicks in to reactivate me. Sort of like going unconscious for a while." Then he frowned, reaching out to touch his fingertips just beneath the chef's nose. "You're bleeding." he added dryly.

"Really? Hadn't noticed." the blonde returned with a sickly smile, "We'll deal with me later. Let's get you fixed first."

Ignoring the headache for the moment, Wren took the other crystals up the ladder for Pepper to repair, allowing Caleb to finish searching the downstairs area for anything else of interest. He came away with a copy of the designs for building the strange machine that stored lightning and the two poles that discharged excess energy into the ground. Pepper and Wren greeted him at the top of the ladder with a new set of crystals, his repaired ones and a new data crystal Pepper spat out for the sake of having one at the ready. The doll cast a shot of _First Aid_ on the chef once the crystals were in place, remedying the painful throbbing and stopping the blood flow that threatened to force his friend into unconsciousness.

"Thanks. Check this out. I think Pepper learned a new word while listening to me scream my head off." Wren remarked with a grin as he looked over at the mana beast. Pepper smiled proudly.

"Ooh-krai!" she barked out. Caleb lifted an eyebrow and she tried again, "Ooh... oh-krai... okay?" The doll lit up and laughed as he hugged her.

"Okay! You learned to say 'Okay'! Wow!" Caleb cheered and rubbed her snout affectionately.

"Wow!" Pepper agreed.


	4. Chapter 4

Ch 4

The next teleportation point was in Meltokio; the next seal, the Temple of Earth. Seles wasn't happy with the intrusion again and the three friends raced out of her house before she could send a blast of her _Absolute_ spell after them. Caleb stuffed his hair under Wren's hat, hastily borrowed once they realized his beret had been lost. The young lady of the Wilder Manor shook her fist at their receding backs, then huffed and stomped back into her home with a swish of her skirts.

"Wren! For the last time, _change your teleportation links!_" the doll shouted as Wren raced after him, Pepper on their heels.

"It's a habit! I make new ones but it's a habit for me to use my old ones!" the chef cried and they stopped running once they reached the second tier of the city. Wren caught his breath, panting, as Caleb looked around him and cocked his head in thought.

"That's new." he finally said and the chef lifted his head to see what he was looking at. "A candy shop in Meltokio. Rich people and their fads. I wonder how long this one will last." Wren gave it a strange look, then shook his head. "By the way, you owe me half your allowance."

"Ah, damn. I'd hoped you'd forget." Wren muttered, straightening. Caleb grinned at him.

"I told you before, Wren. I never forget anything." he replied. He blinked when his friend gazed downward sadly. "Wren?"

"Nothing. So, Temple of Earth? That's where my curry recipe came in handy, isn't it?" the blonde remarked quickly. Caleb would have liked to press on, but chose to drop what appeared to be a painful subject.

"If memory serves me, as it **always** does, wasn't it my sister, Tabatha, that taught the Heroes of Union how to cook curry?" he asked instead with a wry smile. Wren rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Yeah... And _who_ taught her how to make it to begin with?" he shot back, "_All_ the recipes Lloyd and his group used were mine."

"But three of them were taught by normal chefs around the two worlds." Caleb pointed out in confusion. Wren winced, hand rising up to below his neck for a split second.

"Yeah, I know. I taught those cooks the recipes and gave them instructions to teach them to Regal, who would then teach the recipes to the rest of the group. I knew Regal would be able to master those particular recipes first." he replied and closed his eyes, breathing evenly until he calmed. "At that particular time, I was unavailable to teach them the recipes." he finally finished tonelessly.

"Oookay." Caleb murmured with a raised eyebrow, "Are you okay?"

"Okay? Okay?" Pepper echoed and nudged her snout into Wren's hand for a reassuring nuzzle. Wren pet her quickly and opened his eyes, rubbing his head.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Just don't bring that up again. It's kind of an annoying subject for me." he assured them and shrugged. "So, we go to the Temple of Earth. Okay. Let's grab some supplies, maybe rent an Elemental Carriage, 'cause I'm getting sick of walking and it's not really fair to you that I keep riding on Pepper all the time."

"I have no problems with you riding Pepper. I'm sure she would say the same about it, right?" Caleb asked, looking up at the mana beast.

"Ow? Okay?" Pepper answered in confusion, searching for a word to use. Caleb sighed and tried to teach her the meanings of 'no' and 'yes' by alternately nodding and shaking his head. Pepper smiled and shook her head, "No. No no no!"

"See? No problem." the doll agreed, "Don't worry about me; I never get tired, remember?" Wren grinned and shook his head in exasperation.

"All right. Fine. I'll keep riding on the mana beast." he sighed and dug into his pocket, pulling out a small sack of jingling coins. "So, what do you plan to do with my allowance?" Caleb waved it away in dismissal.

"Keep it. I was only joking around. But, you can have the candy." The doll gave Wren the small box, "I bought them for you as a present anyway. Sort of as a thanks for being my friend and all." The chef blinked at the white carton, then smiled up at the redhead.

"Heh, thanks, Caleb. You didn't have to, though. But thanks anyway." he laughed and opened up the box. He blinked in surprise and another strange expression flickered across his face. "These look kinda familiar." Wren picked out one of the roasted almonds and popped it into his mouth, chewing experimentally. "Hmm, not quite. Guess I was mistaken." he remarked and ate another. "Pretty good, but the confectioner should work on the technique a little more."

"Still the Wonder Chef at heart, heh. Come on, let's get those supplies and get out of here." Caleb chuckled and motioned to his two friends, heading towards the item and food shops, "History is being made as we speak! I have to hurry and catch up with it!"

* * *

Ginger huffed as she worked furiously in the kitchen, cooking and mixing ingredients and recipes. She'd gone to the Tower of Mana, as Eve had told her, but found only minimal signs of Caleb and his friends; a makeshift oven, a slightly warm firepit. They had been long gone by the time she had arrived. Silently, the confectioner cursed her long stay in Luin to gather ingredients.

"I _can't_ let them do this. Not to those people." she puffed as her benefactors looked on, an elderly couple who ran a bakery in Asgard. She'd lost track of the Wonder Chef, but that was okay for now. Ginger had more pressing matters to attend to at the moment. She had approached the bakery shop owners and pleaded to use their shop for her work, offering to make candies for them to sell once she had properly worked out the improved recipes. They had agreed and stood by to watch in awe as the raven-haired candy-maker rushed around in the kitchen.

"This cancels **that**. Okay, now this covers the flavor and smell. That should keep **that** from working. And this..." Ginger murmured as she raced back and forth from her lists and notes to the vats and ovens. She finally pulled a batch of candy from one cooling rack and carefully flipped it onto a second tray covered in wax paper. "Okay, I hope this works." Ginger waited for the candy to settle out and plucked one up, popping it into her mouth, then chewing it. The sweet-tasting juice flowed out from within the jelly-like coating, sliding around her tongue, into her body and filling the former Dark Chef spy with a warmth that made her feel as if nothing could harm her. She smiled, closing her eyes as the comforting feeling wrapped around her like a loving hug.

"Perfect." she murmured, "After all those days of cooking, I've finally perfected it." She turned to look at the elderly couple, eyes bright with joy. "Thank you for your hospitality! You don't know how much this means to me!"

"Must be really good candy." the old woman remarked inanely. Her husband nodded silently. Ginger wrote out the final recipe, made a copy and gave it to the couple.

"Here. Make more of them according to this recipe, no matter how strange it is. Pass them out to people however you can." she told them in an urgent tone and began packing the rest of her first batch into a satchel. "Those candies may be the only things that stand between you and certain doom. Trust me on it."

"This looks like something you give a healer, or an apothecary." the old man muttered, peering at the list through his glasses.

"Trust me! Do it according to the list or it won't work! And find a way to get it spread to other cities! Bye!" Ginger cried out and hurried out of the shop. "Now, I have to find Eve and warn her about this!" The spy's dragon had been penned for the time she spent in the windy city, and was eager to resume air travel as she ran up to mount it. "Hima! Hah!" she declared and shot into the air, startling several of the citizens, including one cook who shook a ladle into the air in a fury over a ruined pot of stew.

* * *

"They're attacking **what** now?" Eve demanded as the screens lit up with an alert signal. The cooks scrambled to gather and organize their information. Shipments of food were monitored by undercover Wonder Cooks who would join the delivery services and alert the Organization of any attacks on them. The number of attacks were growing now, a sudden and sharp contrast to the almost nonexistent probes the Dark Chef Alliance had made in the past few days.

"Looks like they're after the rest of the dried fruits and nuts. They've also been hitting flour shipments." one of the cooks finally reported, "My Goddess, they're everywhere!"

"Meltokio's fairly quiet right now, most of the hits are near Sybak, NeOzette, Heimdall and the neighboring villages outside of the Ymir Forest, New Palmacosta... list goes on." another managed to say before returning to alert the rest of the Organization.

"This is too much. How can they do so much?" Eve whispered in shock, "The Wonder Organization doesn't have a large enough force to stop all of those hijacks at once!"

"What's going on? What do we do?" the cooks murmured fearfully. Eve clapped her hands for attention.

"First, stop panicking! Next, I want field agents near Sybak, New Palmacosta and NeOzette to attack the Dark Chefs after the foods closest to them. We're going to lose the other shipments, but let's at least try to minimize the damages!" she ordered, "And get my brother on the line! We **must** have the Wonder Chef's power this time!"

"Wonder Chef communicator signal located! He's north of Meltokio, heading in the direction of the Temple of Earth!" one cook cried after checking for his whereabouts. Eve sighed.

"Oh, **now** you're near Meltokio. Little Brother, what are you doing out there?" she complained, "Oh, right. Seal-searching with the cute friend." Eve smacked her forehead and sighed again. "Okay, get my transport dragon ready for flight. I'm going to New Palmacosta, it's much closer to Hima than the other cities and it's the weakest of the three. _Bon appétit!_" she declared and hurried out of the information center.

* * *

Caleb turned to look at the pack as the beeping went off again. Wren blinked tiredly and looked down at his travel bag. Pepper growled, turning her head back as she stopped to stare at it. They had only been on the road for a week, taking time to find a way to cross the ravine that separated the land mass were Meltokio was located to the large island where the Temple of Earth was located.

"Aren't you gonna answer that?" Caleb asked. Wren shook himself off and pulled out the disc, popping the lid open with his fingers. Estéfan appeared in the projector.

_"Adam, the Dark Chefs are attacking food shipments all over the world. We're going to lose them all unless we can get your help. Go to NeOzette and aid the Wonder Cooks there. I'll go to Sybak and tend to the Dark Chef agents attacking there."_ the elderly chef told him, _"Eve has already left for New Palmacosta. Here is the teleportation link image for NeOzette."_ The projector blinked and revealed the image of a room from what looked like a corner of it. _"This is the basement of the new hotel built in NeOzette."_ Estéfan's voice went on, _"The link will send you to the southeastern __corner of the cellar, where there is ample room for you to arrive with your companions."_ The image blinked out, replaced by the former Wonder Chef. _"Be careful and bon appétit, Adam, the Wonder Chef."_ With that, the image winked out and the disc closed.

"Looks like we've got a situation. I've got this area memorized; Pepper can transmit my memory to you so we can return to this part of our journey later." the doll remarked as Wren slid the disc back into his pack.

"Okay, NeOzette it is. What are the Dark Chefs doing **now**? A world-wide attack on food shipments? What are they after?" Wren muttered and pulled the Wonder Fork from his back, twirling it a few times before bringing it before him and lifting it straight up. "To NeOzette!"

--

The Dark Chefs were swarming the village as Wren, Caleb and Pepper rushed out of the inn into the streets. They looked around as the blue-clad cooks stormed out of shops and bakeries with sacks of flour and fruits, racing for the line of Elemental Cargos just beyond the village entrance.

"Ugh! They stole the _whole_ shipment of food and now they're just gonna rob NeOzette blind of all of their supplies, too?!" Caleb yelled angrily as Wren lifted a hand to his forehead, looking momentarily sick.

"Yeah, it's horrible. This is what the Dark Chef Alliance does. They steal or destroy the native food supply, then come take over with their own foods, forcing the population into their service." he told the doll and yelped as he was shoved from behind. He stumbled forward, then yelled again as he felt himself be grabbed. "Caleb!" The doll and mana beast turned and cried in shock as the Dark Chefs that swarmed past them from shops near the inn rushed by, dragging Wren along by the arms.

"Hey! Let him go!" Caleb yelled angrily and threw his arm forward to face them, "Pepper! Hold them in place!" Pepper focused and threw forth her Ascension clan power, rings of light casting out from her body and clasping around Dark Chef agents left and right. The agents froze in place, pinned by the power of the mana beast's psychic rings. The ones running off with Wren continued to move en masse, lifting the young chef from the ground as he struggled and fought to get free.

"Let me go, you lousy bunch of fruitcakes!" Wren shrieked and gasped for air. The doll rushed into the crowd, shoving aside the Dark Chefs as he fought to reach him. "Caleb! The... Wonder Fork! Get it!" Wren managed to grab the utensil from behind him and threw it out with all his strength. Pepper flew up and snatched it in her mouth, hovering over the crowd and flapping her wings hard enough to knock over more of the agents racing to reach the ECs parked just a few feet away from them.

"Wren! Hang... on!" Caleb cried and yelled as he felt his hair get grabbed and pulled. He turned to follow the pull and shoved the agent that had grabbed him, then stumbled as the remaining free chefs ran past him. "No! You're not taking him prisoner!" the doll yelled in a fury and held up his arms in spell-casting pose, "Hold it! _Stone Blast!_"

Rocks and earth upheaved themselves, knocking over still more of the blue-clad cooks as Pepper worked above with her wings. Caleb cast another spell, showering the Dark Chefs with rubble before he dashed in to snatch Wren from their grasp. The blonde was coughing as he fell from the group's hands, then cried painfully as they made their retreat, nearly trampling him as the cooks fled. He curled up, covering his head until Caleb could grab him and run out of their path. Pepper landed and bounded after the escaping Dark Chefs, the fork still clamped securely in her jaws. After a moment, she paused, then headed back to join her friends, a worried expression on her face. Wonder Cooks that were throwing everything from okonomiyaki to ice cream designed to freeze the Dark Chefs in their tracks stopped to rush to the Wonder Chef's side.

"Wren...?" Caleb murmured as he set the chef down onto the ground, supporting his head as the blonde coughed harder. He shut his eyes, focusing intensely as he let his hand hover over the young chef. "_First Aid!_"

"Yeah... I'm gonna... need it..." Wren managed to gasp before quickly turning his head and coughing up a splash of red. Caleb's attention dissipated as he stared down at him in horror.

"Oh Goddess! Internal bleeding?! I don't think I can heal that!" he cried. One of the younger cooks turned to him in a panic.

"You have to, Mister! Please! Heal him!" he cried, face white with fear, "We can't let the Wonder Chef die! We need him!" Caleb swallowed and nodded.

"I'll keep at it, but you cooks have to help me! Don't you have anything that can help stop the bleeding?!" the doll exclaimed as the last of the Dark Chefs escaped with the entire food supply. Wonder Cooks set to scrambling together the last of their ingredients, cooking in a frenzy as Caleb returned to using _First Aid_. Pepper whimpered as she sat beside them, pouring the mana from the mid-afternoon sunlight into both doll and chef as she set the fork down onto the grass.

"No okay? No ow. No no." she murmured worriedly. Wren coughed, then reached into his pack for the gold disc, lifting it with trembling fingers and thumbing the lid open.

"F-Father... please, come in." he whispered hoarsely. The projector flickered to life as Estéfan came into view.

_"I'm about to return from the siege on Sybak... Adam?!"_ the elder chef looked horrified, _"Adam, good Goddess, what's happened to you?!"_

"NeOzette's... lost their... food supplies..." Wren reported softly and choked back a cry of pain as he shifted his arm to gain more leverage and pulled at his injured side, "I... I'm sorry... I... failed again... Didn't... even... get the chance... to help..."

_"Adam, don't move! Don't waste your strength!"_ Estéfan ordered, _"I'm sending reinforcements with supplies to help you. We'll get you well again, so just hold on!"_

"I'm doing all I can, but there's something wrong!" Caleb cried as the Wonder Cooks returned with a bowl of stew, "I'm healing the wounds as best I can, but I can feel his life weakening still!"

"Maybe this will help. It's the strongest miso stew we have." the leader of the NeOzette Wonder Cooks told him and held out a spoonful. "Please eat, Wonder Chef!" Caleb took the disc from Wren's hand as the blonde accepted the soup, slowly eating as he was spoon-fed mouthfuls of the stew.

"Sir Voraci, I don't know what's happened. He was almost taken prisoner by the Dark Chef agents, and his internal injuries must have been caused by their escape." the doll reported to the image on the disc, "But even though I've managed to stop the bleeding and mend the wounds, Wren is still losing health. Something is weakening his mana faster than I can restore it with my healing spell."

_"We don't have much time. Sybak's lost a majority of their food supplies, but they still have all the meats and bread they need to survive. All that was stolen were the sugars, flour, fruits and satays. We're spreading out our stores to make up for the losses, but Adam must stay where he is until we reach him."_ Estéfan told him, _"Don't move my son anywhere. If he still has any injuries, moving him may make it worse."_ One of the Wonder Cooks looked puzzled.

"Head Chef, our situation was similar. All of the baking goods and sugars were stolen, but everything else remained untouched." he remarked, "What would the Dark Chef Alliance be doing with baking goods?" The Wonder Cooks cried in panic as Wren's condition worsened and the question was forgotten as both cook and doll returned to tending to the injured Wonder Chef.


	5. Chapter 5

Ch 5

Long before the disaster in NeOzette, Eve was making her way to New Palmacosta, blinking in surprise as another dragon raced towards her. She brought the transport dragon to a hover as the other rider came into view.

"Hey! It's you! Adam's girlfriend!" Eve declared with a laugh as Ginger pulled up by her.

"I need to find the Wonder Chef right away!" Ginger blurted out in a rush, "I've got to warn him about what the Dark Chefs are doing!" Eve narrowed her eyes and pulled her dragon back a bit.

"How do **you** know what the Dark Chef Alliance is up to?" she asked pointedly,

"It doesn't matter at this point! If I don't reach him with the information I have on hand, thousands of people will suffer at the hands of the Dark Chef Alliance!" Ginger cried, "Please! Tell me where I can find him!"

"I have to get to New Palmacosta in a hurry. The Dark Chefs are attacking the food shipments there." Eve replied coolly. Ginger shook her head.

"They're trying to make up for the losses at the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge. Stop them from taking baking goods and steel shipments. They want sweets and candy, as well as sturdy steel and iron." she told the blonde cook, "Trust me, this is just the preliminaries. The **real** war hasn't even begun." Eve studied her silently, taking in the sight of the pleading expression on the other cook's face.

"I'm fairly sure my father will send Adam to meet the forces in NeOzette. If you hurry and fly straight past Flanoir, you should be able to reach the city before sundown tomorrow." she finally told her, "I don't know what your involvement is with the Dark Chefs, but if you hurt my little brother in **any** way..." Eve looked intimidating as she pulled back on the dragon, a dark look on her face, "I'll show you why I left my classes in Meltokio's martial arts school." With that threat, the cook shot off towards New Palmacosta. Ginger made her way northwards, hoping to use the route by Flanoir to shortcut her way around the world.

* * *

DuGorge listened in irritation at the report that was given to him. Standing just outside of Asgard, he contemplated what that spy might have been doing there. It had taken time for him to get the news that candies were being produced in Asgard, a rarity for such an out-of-the-way city in Sylvarant. Tasting one of them, he had recognized Ginger's unique flavor and immediately had his agents dispatched to tie up the Wonder Organization while he went to investigate. Whatever it was Ginger was trying to do to undermine him wasn't going to work, and no doubt her little candy scheme was an attempt to draw the attentions of the Wonder Organization. Now he had her location pinpointed to a bakery in the city.

"Get in there and search every shop, inn and bakery for signs of Wonder Cooks. Under **no** circumstances must that baby of a Wonder Chef hear about this. I've got them busy enough as it is with my lovely red herrings." the Master Chef ordered and strode up to the bakery where Ginger had made her special candies.

The elderly couple in the shop was shocked to see the Dark Chef leader storm in with his agents trailing along. He set them to work in the kitchen as he cornered the old couple and assailed them with questions and demands. At first they refused to tell him anything, but as the destruction of their livelihood went on they finally broke down and offered all the information they had.

"The girl wanted to use our kitchen for making a special candy. She offered to bake more candies for us to sell as payment." the old man sputtered as DuGorge held him pinned by the collar of his shirt.

"She finished the recipe today and left. But she gave us this and said to tell it to the others." the old woman added, holding out the paper with Ginger's recipe on it. DuGorge snatched it away and released her husband, studying the recipe carefully.

"I see now. So that's what that traitorous little Candy-Maker's up to..." he growled, "This is her handwriting; must be the only copy then." He glared at the couple. "Are there any others of these? Did she make this candy?" he demanded, "Answer me!"

"She made a batch, but she took them all with her!" the old man whimpered as the agents finished trashing their kitchen and walked out with pots of ingredients, "We gave copies of the recipe to other cooks in the city like she said! She said it was really important to give it away to lots of people!" DuGorge grinned and left the bakery, clutching the paper in his hand.

"So, she thought she could ruin my plans by scattering this candy recipe to the wind? Hah! Fat chance of **that**. Agents! Gather the copies of Ms. Candy-Maker's recipes from every cook in this city! I want them all collected and destroyed!" he declared and watched the Dark Chef agents move out to obey. The carpet-bombing attacks on the food around the world had served its purpose; distracting the Wonder Organization while he came to snuff out Ginger's little scheme and his agents in Heimdall ran off with the herbs and spices needed to finish the last part of his master plan. Now that everything was complete, he could go back to his hideout and oversee the last shipments of candy.

* * *

NeOzette's population was confused as they stood outside the inn where the Wonder Cooks were gathered. Most of the cooks were outside, serving out fresh hot meals to the citizens. Inside, Caleb and Pepper were both working furiously to keep Wren stabilized until the additional cooks arrived with more food supplies to make up for NeOzette's loss. The mana beast lay at the foot of the bed, a still, silent guard feeding mana to the doll that sat frozen beside Wren, casting _First Aid_ almost continuously, one hand resting lightly on the chef's shoulder to take readings of his health status. Another cook stood by as well, placing fresh cold compresses on the young chef's forehead as still others ran back and forth with different dishes in efforts of finding one that would cure whatever was slowly whittling away his life.

"The reinforcements are here!" a young boy in white cried as he raced into the inn.

"Finally. Three days of waiting is definitely unhealthy for my nerves." another cook sighed as she sat back from refilling the bowl of water for the chef in charge of cold compresses. "And if I'm not in good condition, think how the Wonder Chef must be doing! Poor kid."

"Ardee, did they bring more supplies? None of the meals we're making are doing anything except prolonging what seems to be inevitable." the lead cook asked. The boy nodded.

"That's why it took so long. They have dragon teams carrying in the supplies and fresh cooks." he replied, "They also brought the new recipes to try." The door to the inn opened and the fresh cooks poured in with sacks of ingredients and recipe cards clutched in their hands. Following them with worried expressions were Estéfan and Eve, both of whom rushed to Wren's side once they were in.

"What happened?! I demand to know what went on here!" the elder chef fumed, turning to the group of cooks. They looked at each other, then calmly told him what they knew. Eve sat by her brother, taking over the job of placing the damp towelettes on his forehead. "And you say that you don't know if this is something the Dark Chefs did to him in the escape?" Estéfan asked once they were done.

"That's right. This is very strange. He's burning up, his heartbeat is erratic, he's trembling, sweating almost profusely, at one point he was in convulsions... we have no idea what could be causing this..." the lead chef replied softly, shaking his head almost defeatedly, "We could lose him today and never know why..." Estéfan turned and sat on the bed, taking up his son's hand in grief.

"Adam, son, can you hear me?" he murmured. He looked over at the redhead, still frozen and silent, eyes closed as he kept up the stream of healing magic. "Who could have done this to my boy? My only son?"

"This looks like poison." Eve suddenly remarked, studying Wren's face carefully, "He's too yellow. Some poisons can change the color of a person's skin. We need cream stew for this." She looked up at the Wonder Cooks. "Hurry! Cream stew! Make some for him! We've got to purge that poison!"

"Omelets do the same thing." one of them suggested inanely.

"We don't know what kind of poison we're dealing with, so just get it all with cream stew!" Eve yelled back, "We're talking about my brother's life! I won't waste time testing his body for nit-picky details!" The cooks jumped and rushed to the kitchen. Eve turned back and brushed aside her twin's hair. "Hang on, Adam. We're going to help you get better. You just hang on and everything will be all right again. You'll see!" she whispered fiercely. Estéfan nodded and pat his son's hand lightly, then sighed and turned to his daughter.

"We should tell your mother about this and begin the damage control before the Council finds out. Come on. Adam needs his rest." he murmured and the two reluctantly left the room.

--

The kitchen in the hotel was bustling with activity as the cooks worked furiously on the stew. So intent was the group on making the stew to perfection that they didn't notice a new Wonder Cook slip into the kitchen. From a corner, she watched the cooks bustle about with ingredients and panicked expressions. Once she saw the stew was nearly finished, she picked up a tray and bowl, waiting for someone to pour the stew for her.

"You! Take this to the Wonder Chef! Hurry!" the lead cook ordered once he noticed the new cook standing nearby with the tray at the ready. He served out the cream stew and ushered her to the door. "We don't have all day! **Move!**"

"All right, already. I might have put off my arrival here to get another Wonder Cook uniform from that utensil shop in Flanoir, but that doesn't mean you can order me around like one." the cook muttered under her breath as she trotted over to Wren's room. Carefully slipping into the room, she set the tray onto a nearby table and looked over at the young chef in bed. "So **this** is what's been keeping everyone in a panic for the past three days." Ginger murmured and walked up to see him. Wren remained still, breathing shallowly as Caleb continued his spells in the hopes of a cure being found for him soon. "You got caught in the experiments, didn't you? Such a stupid kid. But why would it be _this_ bad this soon? DuGorge said in his notes that the preliminary testing would use the weaker doses." she whispered and reached into her hip pouch, pulling out one of the candies she made in Asgard.

It looked like a gel found in any item shop, with a color of blue so deep and dark it reminded her of the blonde chef for some strange reason. A soft candy with a liquid center, the gels were difficult to make and still retain the potency of the ingredients that went into them, but Ginger was an expert confectioner. The gels were perfect; a candy she felt could easily rival the power of the Ultimate Recipe itself. She had yet to name her new masterpiece, but was confident she would find the perfect name. Just as soon as she used one on the Bird Brain in bed.

"Idiot Boy Wonder." Ginger muttered and carefully slipped the gel into Wren's mouth, "Chew on that and try calling me 'Candy-Maker' one more time." She stood back and watched him work the candy around, then open his eyes slowly.

"Hmm?" Wren mumbled, chewing on the gel as he took on a puzzled look. Ginger rolled her eyes, a slight blush creeping over her face.

"Oh, don't give me **that**. You heard me, Wonder Boy. You're about to be saved by a confectioner!" she told him haughtily, "See? My candy will do what your stupid meals and desserts failed to accomplish. That should prove I'm better than you!" Wren furrowed his brows, further confused but looking much healthier as the mix of juices spread within him.

"Wh-what? Ginger?" he muttered groggily, blinking slowly at her.

"Oh, you actually remembered my _name_? What happened to calling me 'Candy-Maker'?" the girl sneered at him. Wren blinked again, then closed his eyes tiredly.

"Ah, sorry." he mumbled sleepily, "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." Ginger looked startled and shook her head, glaring at him.

"You're not supposed to** apologize**! And besides, what do you care about **my** feelings? Anyway, it didn't do a thing to me! I'm not some weak little cook like you!" she snapped shakily.

"I cared. I don't like hurting others." Wren protested faintly, "And if it didn't hurt, why would you remember it?" Color began to return to his face and he looked less distressed. "Candy tasted good. Not like the other ones. I like yours better."

"What are you babbling about now?" Ginger grumbled, face turning brighter pink, "You're delirious with fever and saying stupid stuff. Knock it off."

"It's not stupid." Wren defended, looking back at her with dark, lidded eyes, "I mean it. Your candies are made with heart, so they taste full of love and good intention." Ginger stepped back, startled further. "Probably why I can't figure you out. Dark Chefs don't cook like you cook."

"_Shut up!_ Stupid boy! You don't know what you're **saying**!" the former spy hissed, "I'm only giving you that candy 'cause I need you to get rid of DuGorge for me! I'm only saving your pathetic life to benefit **ME**! You owe me for it now! Just like Caleb owes me for the information I gave him about that Meltokio charity con!" She headed for the window and slid it open, glaring at him the whole while. "And we still have that cooking battle to get through! You can't die until I beat you and prove once and for all that my candies are **better** than your desserts!"

"Okay." Wren sighed in acquiescence and closed his eyes, "Thank you for the help anyway, Ginger. Even if you don't want my thanks." He drifted off to sleep then and the young woman ground her teeth, shaking her head.

"Such an idiot." she grumbled as she climbed out and headed for the woods but whether she meant the Wonder Chef or herself, she didn't know.

--

Caleb sensed the change in readings and stopped his spell-casting soon after Ginger left. He blinked as he checked Wren again and smiled in relief, standing to tell Pepper in a soft voice to stop her mana flow. Pepper blinked out of her trance and lifted her head worriedly.

"Okay?" she asked. Caleb nodded and she smiled. "Okay." she said again, this time with relief and set her head back down to rest. The doll exited the room, giving the untouched cream stew a strange look on his way out.

"Everyone?" Caleb called out to the Wonder Cooks that waited in the main room anxiously. Estéfan and Eve stood up to face him, tense expressions on their faces. "He's going to be fine. I think he got over whatever it was that affected him." The group cheered in unison, congratulating one another as Wren's father and sister headed for the room with Caleb. "He's asleep now, I checked his vital signs. When he wakes up, Wren will be completely recovered." he added as they bent to examine the blonde themselves.

"He's got his color back. That's good." Eve murmured and stood back with a smile. Estéfan ruffled Wren's hair lightly.

"That's my boy. I knew the cream stew would do it in the end." he added and stepped away. He looked at Caleb. "Eve and I will return to Hima to report to the Organization what has happened to the shipments of food in Sybak and New Palmacosta. Please take care of Adam until he can safely return to us." he requested.

"Even if you hadn't made the request, I would have done so of my own accord. Wren is my friend. I will be honored to continue protecting him." the doll replied with a bow, "Sir Estéfan, I would even give my own life for his. I swear this on the vow of friendship we share."

"I hope such a sacrifice won't ever need to be made, but thank you all the same. Good luck on your journey. _Arrivederci_." Estéfan murmured and left with Eve. Caleb sighed as his language module balked the translating of the dialect, then looked over at Wren.

"But I really don't think it was the cream stew that cured Wren of whatever was making him sick. He never ate it." he added in puzzlement, "It had to have been something else."

--

The Wonder Cooks began to drift away from the hotel to begin restoring what they could of NeOzette's food supplies, cooking meals to help those who had fought against the Dark Chefs and were hurt as well. Caleb sat by the bed where Wren slept, fingers pressed to the small data crystal reader/writer unit as he sorted through information and updated it with what he archived from the Seals of Lightning and Water. He came up out of his trance-like state and looked over to see the blonde chef sit up in bed, shaking his head clear of fog.

"What a dream..." Wren mumbled and looked around, then turned to Caleb in confusion. "Where am I now? And what happened?" he asked in a clearer voice.

"How are you feeling?" the doll merely inquired. Wren rubbed his head.

"Huh... I don't know. I feel like... I don't know. Like someone came and gave me a hug or something. Or that I'm wrapped in an invisible blanket. I feel warm, but not in a bad way." he tried to grasp at words, "Sounds stupid, huh?"

"Not really. As long as you're feeling better, that's all I care about."

"Oh, well in that case, I feel great!" Wren remarked brightly, then turned slightly pink, "But can I have my clothes back? I'll feel more great once I get them back."

"It would have been easier to say 'better', but I understand what you're trying to say." Caleb chuckled as he set aside the device and stood up, "You are such a virgin."

"You're never gonna stop calling me that, are ya?" the blonde whimpered and pulled the blanket over his head, "Go and get my clothes back!" Caleb shook his head with a grin but left to find out where Wren's travel clothes were stashed, leaving the young chef in the room with Pepper, who slept at the foot of the bed to recover from her own constant mana cycling. He pulled the blanket down and sighed, propping his cheeks onto his fists as he puzzled over his strange dream.

Ginger had shown up in this same room. She looked angry but also worried at the same time. She also looked a little guilty. It was a strange thing to see on the Dark Chef spy. Why was she so mad and worried and guilty? Did he do something to her? Wren rubbed his head, then growled wordlessly as he mussed up his own hair with both hands.

"What is going on with me** now**?!" he finally managed to grumble. Caleb soon returned with the green and white clothes in a folded stack. The doll gave him a strange look, taking in the scene before him.

"Are you _sure_ you're okay? What are you doing to your head?" he asked, setting the pile onto the bed.

"Nothing. Hey, where's the Wonder Fork?" Wren returned, looking around the room. Caleb headed for the closet and opened it, pulling the giant fork from within. "Oh. For a minute there I thought the Dark Chefs ran off with it. I can't let DuGorge get his hands on it again, now that I know he could also possibly gain access to _Incineration_." the young Wonder Chef breathed a sigh of relief and pulled on his undershirt first.

"That reminds me. I've got a lot of questions I'd like to ask you about the Organization." Caleb mused aloud as he held onto the utensil, waiting for Wren's head to emerge from the green over-shirt, "Why didn't you just unbutton that thing? Ah, never mind."

"I thought you got everything from the Wonder Archive." the chef remarked and popped through the collar. He reached for the pants next and gave Caleb a pointed look. The doll shook his head in exasperation but turned around to face the wall.

"Yeah, but that's archived information. There really wasn't anything recent about it. And I just have some things I'm curious about." he went on as Wren finished dressing and searched around for the red cape and his chef's hat.

"Like?"

"Like, if DuGorge is a Dark Chef, why would the Wonder Fork even **work** for him? What makes him Wonder Chef class? What does the Wonder Fork consider as the necessary requirements for a cook to become Wonder Chef class?" Caleb asked, puzzled, "How do some of your artifacts recognize who is Wonder Chef and who isn't? Are they tuned to your mana signature? Does the Wonder Fork somehow alter the mana of whoever becomes Wonder Chef so those relics recognize him or her as the Wonder Chef? Is that what the Eru Crystal does? Are marriages in the Wonder Chef Family controlled by an outside influence or are you free to marry whomever you choose? Are you really descended from Eru Tanreht, the legendary First Wonder Chef?"

"Stop!" Wren finally yelled and Caleb turned back in surprise, staring at his young friend. Back in Wonder Chef garb, the blonde had on a serious expression. "Even though we have existed for over seven thousand years, that doesn't mean we have **all** the answers or know **all** the secrets of the Wonder Fork. Before we got the Moria Gallery, I had always thought that it was crafted with powerful magical blessings to protect the Wonder Chefs that took the titles. Not magitechnology and an Exsphere to run it!" he explained in irritation, "I'm not related to Eru, but for the sake of fictional continuity of the Wonder Chef Family, I have to claim that I am. Wonder Chef is a title, just like the family name. Whenever a successor is named Wonder Chef, his family name becomes Wonder Chef Family. My great-grandfather became Wonder Chef outside of the family that had been running the Wonder Organization at that time. So, the Voraci Family became the Wonder Chef Family. That's all I know, off the top of my head."

"So the bloodline of Eru is gone?" Caleb puzzled aloud, "The Wonder Chef Family is a dynamic?"

"I don't know what that means, but the Wonder Chef Family isn't always the same family group." Wren tried to explain, "I am the fourth Wonder Chef born from the current family. If I were to pass the title onto Regal Bryant, then the Bryant Family takes the name of Wonder Chef Family as a cover. It's to protect the main lineage, as well as any relatives that are scattered around the world."

"Just like the Mana Lineage." Caleb remarked, handing Wren the fork and watching him slide it into a strap on his back. "Did Mithos have **that** much control over the Wonder Chef?"

"What?!" Wren snapped, bristling at the idea, "Mithos doesn't control _anyone_ of the Wonder Chef Family! That was part of our deal!"

"But he did. That's the **point** of the deal." Caleb murmured as the pieces began to come together. "The Wonder Chef that made the deal was actually giving Mithos control in exchange for their lives. They had to wait until Mithos gave his approval before anything could be done."

"Caleb, that's a load of crap." Wren growled.

"He controlled the marriages of the Wonder Chef Family, even though it looked like he had no hand in it." the doll remarked in a surprised voice, "You may **have** the freedom to choose your brides and husbands, but you couldn't do it until **after** Mithos had chosen them for the Mana Lineage, to keep you from interfering with his creation of vessels for Martel. And, according to the archive, before you took over no Wonder Chef teleportation link appeared too near churches, human ranches, and Summon Spirit seals. Mithos probably demanded that Wonder Chefs avoid those places, or face capture by the Desians."

"Th-that's... that's **not** true! We agreed to a pact with Mithos that was **fair**!" Wren protested, "As long as we didn't spread information about his plans to the people, our way of life would be left alone! We would spread only the teachings of cooking to the people of the declining world. Mithos would leave Wonder Cooks out of his human ranches in exchange. We maintained neutrality to how the worlds worked in their yin and yang roles. Mithos left our history intact. That's how it worked!"

"But you didn't follow that deal." Caleb pointed out. Wren looked startled. "You didn't maintain neutrality, you helped the Heroes of Union every chance you got."

"N-no, I didn't." the chef stammered out.

"Yeah, you **did**. You told me so yourself. The recipes you taught to Lloyd's group were more potent and far better than the same ones you taught to the Desians and the Renegades." Caleb returned sternly, "Don't think I forgot what you said. You put yourself in every major place they would show up at to teach them those recipes. According to the World Reunification stories, you were even found in the Church of Martel in Flanoir when they arrived to find and make the pact with Celsius! So, why is it that, out of all the Wonder Chefs that followed Mithos' deal like obedient puppies, **you** were the one that threw it all out the window?"

"I made my choices then, and if I had to do it all over again, I'd still make that choice to turn on Mithos' deal." Wren growled back, face coloring with a sudden burst of anger, "My reasons are my own, and I refuse to speak more about this!"

"So you saw through the facade yourself, you're just denying it." the doll mused with a grin, "Fine, fine. I'll leave it alone. But hey. If you're so easy to work up to this point, then it proves that you're back to full health again."

"I'd hit you if I were a few inches closer." Wren muttered, giving the doll his best glare. Caleb waved the threat away, laughing.

"Okay, so let's get back to our journey 'round the world to see the seals. Pepper? You awake yet, girl?" he asked brightly. Pepper snorted and opened her eyes in irritation. "Ah, you were awake this whole time, huh?" the doll gave her a sheepish grin.

"Yesssss." the mana beast hissed in annoyance, getting up to have a good stretch.

"Sorry. Pull the image of that road to the Temple of Earth from my memory and project it to Wren." he told her, "We'll cut down on travel time and avoid another beating by Seles if he takes us there instead." The mana beast nodded in agreement and did as she was told.

"It's not my fault my memory isn't as perfect as yours." Wren grumbled, then grinned as he held up the fork, "Okay, then! We're off to the Temple of Earth!"

* * *

Fredrik studied the recipe the old couple had given him just before he left Asgard. It didn't look like much of a candy recipe, there were too many things in it that just didn't seem like normal candy ingredients. But they said to spread copies of it around because it was really important and, well, he wasn't one to turn down a poor old couple's wish. Besides, he told himself, he was gonna go out and find the Wonder Chef again, make sure the idiot was still cooking decently.

He'd gone from Asgard to Luin, looked around there for a day or so. He'd poked at everything, asked everyone if they'd seen a chef with blonde hair and a giant fork, then dropped off a few copies of the candy recipe to the local bakers. He'd managed to make it himself once, and damned if the end result didn't send him to heaven and back. As soon as Fredrik gave samples of the candy to the bakers, they were in love with the recipe, promising to make enough to satisfy the whole town once they figured out the exact process.

"Yeah, it was tough making this first batch myself. We need to have people learn to make candy in Sylvarant. Sell it to those rich folk in Tethe'alla." Fredrik agreed and headed on out. His next stop was Hima and his land-bound transport dragon was eager to get back on the road.


	6. Chapter 6

Ch 6

Wren checked the amount of candy he had left in the box as the group of friends finally arrived at the Temple of Earth. Caleb scanned the outside of the cavern-like system as Pepper sniffed around at the ground, flushing out a rabbit for her lunch. It had taken them three days from the teleportation link to reach the temple and Wren decided he was fed up with eating only sandwiches and snacking on candy the whole trip there. He was halfway through the package already!

"I'll get some curry made, just in case we run into a Gnomelette." the chef decided after closing up the box and telling himself to save the treats for later. The doll waved at him absently.

"Sure, sure. Hmm, the geological structure of this temple seems to suggest a high level of top quality ores and minerals not unlike those used to..." he began mumbling as he wandered around the entrance, poking and picking at the rock, stuffing a sample or two in his personal pack. Wren sighed and shook his head hopelessly.

"Ruin Mode. I thought it only happened to Raine. But at least he doesn't go overboard as much as she does." he remarked and stirred the beginnings of his curry recipe. It took a while, but Wren finally had his first hearty meal in a long time, thinking back with a wince at what he had seen in the hotel room in NeOzette. He'd lost weight during the trip, that much he could see, but he hadn't thought it would be so bad. Wren wasn't used to travel that didn't use the Wonder Fork so heavily, nor was he used to skipping meals to keep up with Caleb's inhuman pace. Was that why he got so sick in NeOzette?

"Something wrong?" Caleb asked worriedly as he returned to the small cooking fire Wren had set up for the curry.

"No, just thinking about stuff." the chef replied and finished his bowl of curry. The doll still looked concerned. "Really. I'm fine. Let's get going."

"It's not healthy to move so suddenly after eating." Caleb said suddenly and reached out, pushing Wren back down onto his seat, a rock that had been worn smooth by wind and rain. "You sit put and rest for a bit. We don't have to rush our way through the last three seals."

"Ow!" Wren grunted softly, "Ugh. Did my father put you up to this?" He gave the doll an angry look. "I can take care of myself! I'm the Wonder Chef!"

"I don't care if you're one of the Four Seraphim, you're not moving your butt from that rock until after **I **say you're ready to go." Caleb growled back, "You keep misusing that title, throwing it out only when you think it'll serve you! '_I hate having to do everything according to the Organization! I just wanna be Wren!' 'I can do whatever I want with my power! I'm the Wonder Chef after all!'_" The doll stuck out his tongue in annoyance. "That's just **pathetic**. You can't act like a kid and play that same card over and over to get your way."

"I'm seventeen years old; I'm not a child." Wren grumbled.

"You were younger than Lloyd when he was on the World Reunification journey?!" Caleb exclaimed in sudden shock, jumping back, "I thought the two of you were the same age!"

"I was only fourteen when I met him, but I was tall for my age. Father says I hit an early growth spurt. It's still embarrassing to think about it." the chef mumbled.

"How old were you when you became Wonder Chef in the first place?!"

"Ah... thirteen. I had a year to train with the Wonder Fork before doing field work."

"You really _are_ a kid, then. You didn't have a real childhood." Caleb mumbled sadly.

"Don't try to console me. There's nothing I miss about it." Wren grumbled, "No one born in the Wonder Chef Family is considered 'real' in the terms of the world."

"I suppose that's the reason why you didn't like being Wonder Chef?" Caleb mused aloud and Wren shook his head.

"That came out wrong. I _loved_ being Wonder Chef! I loved knowing that I was helping people stay healthy and strong with my recipes, loved hearing kids talk about the mysterious chef that could be found in cities and towns with delicious snacks on hand for them." he exclaimed and sighed, "I really did love what I was doing, because I knew that I was helping the world stay healthy. But, I'm Sylvaranian; I was **born** in Sylvarant. I grew up there, and seeing all those kids out there when I traveled, first with my father, then on my own, watching Desians carry off their parents and leave them orphaned, watching those children turn to food for comfort and turn what was once healthy, nutritious meals into food that would eventually destroy them... I couldn't take it."

"**That's** why you reneged on Mithos' deal!" the doll exclaimed, lighting up at the new information he managed to glean out of his friend.

"Yes... that's right. That's why." Wren murmured softly, suddenly looking very worn by the admission, "Because I couldn't stand the thought that I was so safe; my family could never be taken from me. Because we could only stand by and allow the Desians to kill so many other parents." He bowed his head, hiding his face from view as a single tear ran down his cheek. "Because I was ordered to do **nothing** as I watched the survivors kill themselves on food the Family gave them, and create more orphaned children. Absolutely _nothing,_ as everyone around me died and I remained untouched, all because I have the title 'Wonder Chef' protecting my life." he whispered sorrowfully.

"So you taught enhanced recipes to Lloyd's group. How did you know Lloyd would stop the cycle Mithos created?" Caleb asked quietly. The chef rubbed away the tear and lifted his head, trying to regain his composure.

"I didn't. I taught him the enhanced cabbage roll because he was part of the Chosen's group and I thought I could whisper to her what Mithos was really up to." Wren answered, relieved that Caleb didn't question his brief lapse of emotion, "But I saw Kratos there and I kept my mouth shut. According to Family history, Mithos, Kratos and Yuan were all together when the deal was originally struck between them and the Wonder Organization. But instead of telling Mithos that I was dangerously close to breaching the pact, Kratos told me to continue giving Lloyd better recipes."

"So he gave you free reign?"

"Not quite. I still couldn't tell them anything, but if I kept giving Lloyd recipes that would help him defeat Cruxis, then Kratos would do what he could to keep Mithos from finding out what I was doing." Wren smiled brightly up at his friend, "I was so **happy**! I could finally **do** something to stop all those senseless murders and unnecessary sorrows! Even though I didn't have a childhood in the way other kids did, my sacrifice for the sake of learning to perfect my cooking was finally going to do some true good for the world!"

"Well, if you were told to give Lloyd's group your best recipes, why didn't you teach them curry? Or paella, potato salad, beef stew and pork cutlets?" Caleb asked in confusion, "The last time the Heroes of Union saw you was in the city of Meltokio; you basically dropped off the face of the earth after that!" Wren stood abruptly and turned his back on the doll in anger, folding his arms over his chest almost protectively.

"I **told** you not to ask about that! I taught Tabatha curry to give to them because I was still recovering from exposure to fumes in Presea's house while they were making the pact with Gnome. I dropped the beef stew recipe in Meltokio when that Dark Chef chased me around the city and cornered me near the castle. I wasn't able to focus on a teleportation link to escape until Regal stepped in to rescue me and set that Dark Chef straight for me. That's two explanations, okay?!" he declared forcefully, "As for the others, I refuse to tell even **you** why I wasn't there!" At the sound of yelling, Pepper lifted her head from her fourth rabbit meal, then watched the two of them in concern.

"Why?" Caleb questioned, startled by his friend's reaction and wounded by his unwillingness to confide in him.

"Because I don't **want** to, dammit! Leave me alone!" Wren yelled, turning his head to glare at him, "It doesn't matter anyway! They learned the recipes, Mithos is dead, the worlds are united... just **drop** it!" He turned away again, fuming silently as the minutes stretched uncomfortably long.

"Okay, okay. If you don't trust me to know, then fine. You don't have to have a fit about it." Caleb finally griped, irritation replacing the hurt. Pepper looked between the two of them in confusion. The doll looked at the curry simmering in the small cauldron hanging over the small campfire. "Ready to go?" he asked, struggling to keep his own anger in check.

"Yeah, I've lost my appetite for seconds anyway." Wren muttered, turning and grabbing the pot by its insulated handle, "Let's get through the temple before I decide red looks good on you."

"I could say the same about you, y'know." Caleb hissed back, leading the way as Pepper trotted beside them and whimpered at the chaotic energy around her.

--

The interior of the Temple of Earth was messy, what with all the times Lloyd had caused earthquakes in random spots around the place. Remnants of monsters that had fallen from high ledges and the ceiling because of them were scattered around the spots where they fell. The group had run across a Gnomelette who had heard his brother had tasted something spicy and demanded a taste of it for himself before allowing the three friends to enter the cave where Gnome's seal was located.

"Here ya go! Something spicy and good to eat!" Wren remarked with a grin, setting the pot down for the small creature to examine. The Gnomelette chugged down a spoonful of the dish and raced around in a strange mix of excitement and panic.

"Spicy! Spicy! Oooh! H-h-h-hot!" it wailed. Pepper prepared to jump at it and only held back because Caleb grabbed her sash, tinkling her brass bell to catch her attention.

"You can't eat that." the doll told her. "Not yummy."

"Yummy?" Pepper echoed and Caleb handed her an apple.

"This is yummy. Yummy apple." he told her and watched her munch happily on it. "Why don't you just read my mind and learn your words that way?" he sighed in exasperation. The Gnomelette had calmed and thanked them for the treat, allowing them to continue on through the temple.

"I'll leave the pot out here for you, so go ahead and call all of your friends to eat some. I made too much anyway." Wren suggested and the Gnomelette seemed to fall all over itself in pleasure. They went on ahead as the creature scurried off to call its brothers.

Just past the door to the next cavern was a small gathering of Earth Elements and gargoyles. Caleb fell into a spell-casting pose as Wren immediately pulled down the Wonder Fork and grabbed for his pack of ingredients. Pepper's fur raised and she gave a half-growl, half-hiss, wings spreading for flight.

"Man, that Gnomelette could have_ warned_ us there were monsters still in here!" Caleb growled as the creatures noticed them and began rushing their way in a frenzy. Wren knelt down, setting aside the fork as he began mixing milk and fresh fruit pulps in a bowl.

"You ever think that, maybe, that's **why** the Gnomelette was standing guard there to begin with?!" he shot back, "Keep them off my back for a minute! I've got something that can help!" Caleb dropped the pose and snatched at the spoon strapped to his belt, dashing forward with a yell.

"Pepper! _Mana Light!_" he cried as he slashed at one of the Earth Elements. The mana beast shrieked and fired the bursts of light, piercing each of the flying gargoyles through the torsos with deadly accuracy. Caleb quickly checked through his memories of watching the Heroes of Union fighting on Derris-Kharlan long ago. With the equipment he had now, and the type of enemies he was up against, Kratos' fighting style seemed best to mimic. He skimmed through a compiled list of techniques.

"Okay! Let's try this! Sonic Thrust!" the doll yelled, throwing his speed and power behind the forward attack. He cried in surprise and joy as the blow shattered the Element's core, bringing it down in pieces. Wren whipped the mix in the bowl, then tossed in a handful of a shimmering white powder before resuming the blending.

"I'm almost done!" he exclaimed as Caleb tried another thrust on a second Earth Element. More of the floating monsters rushed in, trying to bypass him to reach the chef just beyond. A gargoyle dodged _Mana Light_ and set to casting a spell as Pepper darted into the fray and pounced on a cave worm that slithered onto the field. Her teeth and claws tore into the semi-hard shell as the worm bucked and tried to roll away from her.

"Hurry! They're gonna get by me!" Caleb exclaimed before going into spell-casting mode, _"Wind Blade!"_ Two Earth Elements crumbled to bits almost instantly, their weakness to wind becoming apparent as Caleb quickly made note of it. The gargoyle let out a hoarse cry and Wren cried out in shock and pain as small rocks and earth mana erupted from underneath him, slamming into his arms and legs. He held onto the bowl of fresh ice cream as the rubble continued to pummel at him, then reached for the Wonder Fork, focusing on the metal. The rocks fell away, no longer supported by the mana that spun towards the center of the Wonder Fork.

"Yow! That thing casts spells!" Wren exclaimed once the fork finished absorbing the rest of the spell and sent a strange shiver up his back. He spotted the gargoyle turn to a new target and decided in that moment that holding onto his anger again would do no good. "Caleb! Watch out! It's coming at you with that spear!" he shouted a warning. The doll spun around, holding up the soup spoon to block the downward swing of the enemy weapon as the monster slashed at him.

"Thanks, Wren!" the redhead exclaimed, flashing him a smile of forgiveness before he returned to slashing at the airborne creature, copying the Light Spear attack both Kratos and Zelos knew to perfection.

"Head off the Earth Elements! This one's mine!" Wren yelled and threw the bowl of ice cream at the gargoyle. Caleb leaped back and watched in shock as the cold treat splattered all over the monster. It looked down at itself as the ice cream suddenly froze solid, ice spreading over the creature faster than it could realize something was wrong. Moments later, the gargoyle fell and shattered to fragments on the bedrock.

"Ice cream can **do** that?" Caleb exclaimed in astonishment. Wren dusted off his hands, an annoyed look on his face.

"Wonder Chef Ice Cream, yes; normal ice cream, no." he remarked and picked up the Wonder Fork, "Come on! We still have two more Earth Elements to deal with!"

Pepper took to the air, carrying the struggling worm in her claws as she rose ever higher. She scanned the ground, grinned viciously as she found what she sought and calmly dropped the squirming creature into a pit of stalagmites. Not bothering to wait around for the splat, the mana beast headed back to rejoin her friends, hoping she would earn another treat for her good work.

Caleb mimicked a perfect Light Spear Cannon, piercing an Earth Element to the core and shutting his eyes protectively as the bits fell around him. Wren beat at his own opponent, leaping back to hold the fork before him defensively whenever it cast a spell. Each hit of _Stone Blast _the Earth Element tried to connect with was either reflected or absorbed by the dark aionite prongs of the Wonder Fork. Wren finally connected with a powerful swing that smashed the Element against a pillar, ending the battle. He dropped to his knees afterwards, breathing hard but grinning as the room cleared of dust to show their victory.

"You fight like Raine, swinging that fork around like a staff." Caleb remarked as he walked up to sit beside him. "Not bad at all... for a chef. Try to work on your speed, though. You only took out two monsters. But then again, you never had to fight monsters before you met me, huh?" he added with a smile, "And sorry for getting mad at you too. Friends again?" Wren nodded tiredly, his grin fading as he closed his eyes, still breathing hard. Caleb grew concerned at the change. "Wren? Something wrong-?" he murmured.

"Ugh..." the blonde breathed out, collapsing against the doll. Caleb pressed his fingers against Wren's forehead, measuring his temperature quickly, then moving down to measure his pulse.

"Oh no, not again!" Caleb cried once it dawned on him that the mysterious illness from NeOzette had returned full force. Using _First Aid _so often then had helped him learn a new technique. He shut his eyes and threw up a hand in a spiraling motion as if to stir the air around him, _"Healing Wind!"_ Pepper trotted up in confusion as she watched the circling winds of healing mana surround the doll and chef. "Pepper! Wren's sick again! Go back and get the pot he left in the other cave!" The mana beast yelped and raced back up the path of rock and rubble to retrieve the pot.

"I'm gonna be ill." Wren groaned as he tried to sit up. The motion made him dizzy and Caleb jumped back as the chef upheaved his lunch onto the earth.

"This is **not** cool." the doll murmured and threw his hand up in the spiral again, "_Healing Wind!_ Pepper! Hurry up!" Wren backed away and stumbled into another heap, rolling onto his back as he pressed the heel of his hand against his forehead.

"Why do I keep getting sick? I don't understand." he moaned and coughed before he began to shudder again, teeth chattering as if from cold.

"I don't get it either, but don't move! _Healing Wind!_" the doll cried again as Pepper ran up with the empty pot in her teeth. She set it down and sat by Wren worriedly. Caleb ended the spell and picked up the pot. "I'm gonna make that cream stew and hope it works."

"Yaah..." Wren drawled and ended with a cough as he curled up in attempts to control his convulsions this time.

"Pepper, keep his mana level up. I need to work on the stew." the redhead told the mana beast and set to work, lighting a fire with fireballs. He worked carefully, trying not to mess anything up with rushing but it was difficult to do while Wren lay not more than five feet from him, retching and struggling to stay conscious. The mix of milk, onion, carrots and other ingredients simmered and bubbled in the pot as Caleb watched it carefully, silently praying to his sister for a miracle.

Time stretched as Pepper sat by the chef, her wings spread protectively over him as Wren glowed softly with the mana being poured into him from the firelight. Caleb poked at the stew, hoped it was done and poured out a bowl for a taste test. He fed it to Pepper and when she gave him a sloppy kiss in response, the doll knew it was ready.

"Okay, I hope this works." Caleb muttered, pouring out another bowl and taking it to the chef. "Wren? Got something for you."

"I'm dead already." Wren groaned in response, "Just bury me right here." He struggled to sit up and groaned again. "What... wait... I'm too... dizzy..."

"If you're dizzy, then you're not dead." Caleb pointed out with a grin of relief, helping him sit up and bringing the bowl around for him to eat. Wren ate at the cream stew and frowned.

"It's helping, but not as fast as... huh..." he murmured and winced painfully, "Ugh!"

"Don't die on me! I can't dig six feet in bedrock!" Caleb cried, spiraling his hand up again, _"Healing Wind!"_ Wren clutched the bowl of stew as the mana from the spell restored his strength, seeming to act as a catalyst for the effects of the recipe. He blinked in realization.

"That's it! I'll keep eating this until I get healed, but you have to keep up the spells or the stew will fail!" he told the doll, then went back to gulping down cream stew as fast as he could. Caleb kept up the _Healing Wind _spell, spinning dust and pebbles around as Pepper frowned and brought one wing around to fend off the grit. After a few minutes, Wren looked much better and he breathed easily, smiling slightly. "It's just like the Ultimate Recipe." he murmured and tapped Caleb's forehead, "Okay! That should do it!" The doll blinked and stopped his spells, looking at the chef in concern. "I'm fine now. Thanks. Whatever it was that made me sick, I think the stew got rid of it."

"This has **got** to stop sometime." Caleb sighed as Pepper folded up her wings and licked at Wren's face cheerfully, both out of relief of his recovery and to get the last of the stew off his face, "I don't understand what's going on."

"I probably had a really bad bug in my system. Should we get on with the archival?" Wren asked as he pet Pepper's snout and got up. Caleb stood with him and dusted himself off.

"Yeah, we're almost to Gnome's seal anyway and I want to see what ores are found in his area." he remarked and grinned, "Maybe I'll find a lump of dark aionite!" He turned and ran off, laughing as Pepper and Wren walked to catch up.

"Aw man. He's doing it again." Wren sighed, "I hate it when he goes Ruin Mode on me." Pepper whistled in agreement, rolling her eyes and shaking her head in exasperation.

* * *

"New Palmacosta lost about half the food shipment." Eve reported once the family and the Council of Gourmet Chefs were gathered in the main hall of the Wonder Organization Headquarters, "There wasn't much we could do, but it seemed like the Dark Chefs weren't really putting up much of a fight anyway. They'd already escaped with part of the EC fleet holding satays and flour, but abandoned the rest shortly after we arrived."

"And Adam?" their mother asked softly.

"He's fine, Edela. The Dark Chefs in NeOzette fled when he arrived." Estéfan assured her and looked pointedly at the Council, "He's returned to traveling the world with the protection of his two companions."

"We don't have enough stored food to make up for the losses of all the cities and villages that were raided. However, since non-baking foods were left behind, the populations should be able to continue to survive until they restore the rest on their own." the Council remarked with a collective frown, "However, we find it very odd that the Dark Chefs are doing so well against us now. This _can't_ be merely coincidence."

"Don't think this is because of Adam! DuGorge is the craftiest Master Chef anyone has ever faced so far. Daddy had to combat his father several times in the past and had just as much trouble, right? Gluttonious is _much_ smarter than his dad; he's doing things that none of us are used to!" Eve pointed out and looked worried, "If that crazy Dark Chef set his mind to it, he could even trigger a **war** or something that will force Adam into making the Ultimate Recipe! Then he could try to steal a sample and recreate it through his own means!"

"Impossible! He'd have **no** access to the ingredient that makes the Ultimate Recipe actually _work_! Only the wielder of the Wonder Fork has the power to obtain the Ultimate Ingredient! Eru's will declared that to be the unshakable truth!" the Council of Gourmet Chefs declared in unison. They sniffed disdainfully at the idea of reverse engineering the ancient Recipe. "We're going to continue the investigation of these attacks. Voraci Family, you may be dismissed." With those words, the two groups parted from the room, each left to their own thoughts on the matter. Estéfan shook his head in irritation at the Council's growing disrespect for the family and thought back to the final declaration they had made.

"Actually, if the Dark Chefs manage to capture Caleb again, they **would** have access to that ingredient." he mused and ran his fingers through his hair as his loved ones paused to look at him in confusion, "I don't like this at all. Right now, the two carriers of the ingredients and skills for creating the Ultimate Recipe are wandering Symphonia in too neat of a package for DuGorge to ignore." Iviana, Estéfan's mother, gasped and covered her mouth with her hands in shock.

"That's right! Adam has the Recipe and his companion has...!" she stopped herself in time and drew herself up primly, lips pressed tightly in a scowl. "We can't let DuGorge get either one of them. Eru's Recipe will destroy this world if made by anyone other than a pure-hearted Wonder Chef. What are we to do to protect both Adam and that other young man?" she finally set forth in a low tone.

"We must find out what the Master Chef is up to." Estéfan pointed out firmly, "Has the information center made out the location of the Dark Chef Alliance's home base?" Edela twisted a strand of her pale blue hair around one finger, lips pursed thoughtfully.

"They have. The Dark Chef Alliance is located in Tethe'alla, not far from Flanoir. Remember when we had that spy here? She managed to leak the location of the Famine Temple as well as a good number of our recipes." she murmured softly and shook her head slowly, long hair rippling from the motion, "Also, your investigators report that support for the Council has grown to two hundred fifty cooks. That's roughly a third of our total force."

"Old Jack had reported that the Dark Chefs were everywhere in the Famine Temple, far more than necessary for the release of the Famine Lord. This only confirms our initial fears of their encroachment into Wonder Organization territories." the elderly chef murmured, "Now that we know they've taken enough information to pose more serious a threat than we originally considered them, we really should glean more information about them as well." Eve looked thoughtful, mind working quickly through various options. This was going beyond her head; since she had not been part of the Wonder Chef Family for so many years she felt left out of the knowledge they all shared. Wasn't there something she could do to help her brother that wouldn't rely on a need to know all about life as a Wonder Cook?

"I'm going to go to my room, Daddy. After all that mess in New Palmacosta, I need to have a nice hot soak. I can't really be a very good dietician if I'm so stressed out I can only think of shortcake!" she remarked brightly and bounced off with a giggle, leaving her family to watch her curiously.

* * *

Ginger couldn't bring herself to leave NeOzette completely. It reminded her so much of home, of her childhood in Ozette long before the village was destroyed by Cruxis. The Wonder Cooks had thinned out and eventually left the village, signs that the Wonder Chef had gone on to some other location. She sighed and leaned against a tree trunk, contemplating her next move.

"I've cured the stupid little blonde, I have the recipe for my masterpiece candy circulating in Sylvarant, I'm free to do _anything_ I want. So what next?" she mumbled and let her mind wander. "I can set up shop here in NeOzette, try and rebuild my family's reputation along with those candies. But I don't have the means to do that, no money or anything." Ginger picked at her Wonder Cook uniform in distaste. "All those cooks... so full of themselves and their stupid recipes for everything but candy. Candy can be nutritious, too, you just have to have the right confectioner and recipes for it!" she declared in a proud voice, "Those Wonder Morons can take their sandwiches and shove 'em up where they can get baked! I wonder how Blondie's doing..."

Startled, Ginger jumped away from the tree and shook her head. Where had that thought come from?!

"He's the **biggest** idiot of them all!" Ginger yelled out, face a burning pink, "Why would I care about what that stupid Wonder Chef is up to out there?! _Arrggh!_ All I want to do is prove my candies are better than his desserts! Then he'll _have_ to spread my recipes around the world! It'll be the best way to regain my family's honor!" She shook her fists in indignation and marched off with a huff. If that cooking battle was ever going to happen, she'd have to hunt down the chef and his friends again. Only where could they be now?

"I should be able to find him. I know where his teleportation spots are, that's one of the pieces of information I got out of the Organization. So let's see." she muttered and stopped to think about the matter, "If the hits DuGorge made were all successful and the Wonder Chef had to come here from elsewhere... hmm. The only point on the list that wouldn't have had to worry about a hit was Meltokio, and he's got two spots there to pop up in. That's as good a place as any to start looking."

Confident with that idea, Ginger headed back to her transport dragon still stashed in the woods outside of NeOzette. It would take a while, but if she circled around Meltokio, maybe snooped around inside the city as well, she could find where the little group was hiding out. And the battle would be on, right then and there!

* * *

There weren't any lumps of dark aionite or inhibitor ore around Gnome's area, but Caleb was still loving the exploring and searching around for items and relics. Wren perched on another worn-down stone, watching in boredom as the doll raced from one side of the room to the other with his pack open for collecting. Pepper watched with him, sitting off to one side and blinking as her guardian ran around in joy.

"Yummy?" she asked, turning to Wren in confusion. The chef shot her a look.

"For the last time, it's _Wren_! Call me _Wren_! Not 'Yummy'! **Wren!**" he exclaimed, "You can even call me Adam, or Wonder Chef! Anything, but **not** Yummy!"

"Yummy?"

"No treat until you call me something **other** than Yummy!"

"No."

Caleb returned to the group with several samples of ores and fossils, blinking as he watched the strangest argument in the world. Unsure of whether to laugh or scold someone, he merely shook the bag of items at them.

"Hey!** Hey!** I'm done collecting data from here! Let's go!" he told the two friends. They paused and looked at him. "If you're both hungry then we can stop off somewhere and grab a bite for you." he added with a grin. "I forget that you two aren't like me. A human and a mana beast both need to eat, which reminds me. Wren, have you _actually_ been eating right?"

"Of _course_ I eat right! I'm the Wonder Chef! Though I could use a snack right about now." he answered, "What's the next seal? I can teleport us to the nearest city and we can check in at a local inn." Caleb unrolled the maps drawn out haphazardly by the former Chosen.

"We have the Seals of Ice and Darkness left. Great. Both of them are opposites of the types Pepper has; what if she gets hit by an elemental attack from there?" he groaned, "What if she gets seriously hurt?!"

"And what if she kills everything there in one hit?" Wren pointed out, "If she's opposite of those temples, then the monsters in there are weak to her types, too. So which one first?"

"Pepper is Ascension mainly, so she'll do better in the Temple of Darkness. That's on the opposite end of this continent, right?" Caleb remarked. Pepper stood and cheered, prancing around the two men. "Pepper seems to like the idea of going there first, too. Is that all right with you, Pepper? Do you want to go to the Temple of Darkness?"

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes! _Mana Light!_" she exclaimed. Wren blinked in surprise.

"When did she learn to say _'Mana Light'_?" he asked. Caleb only shrugged with a puzzled look.

"I don't know, maybe because I call it out when I ask her to use it? Or maybe she's picking the words out of my head?" he questioned, "Oh well. Pepper wants to do the Temple of Darkness, so we'll go there next. What's the closest point to Shadow's temple?"

"Meltokio again. To find a place to eat there would be pretty expensive." Wren told him, pulling out another candied almond and popping it into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully and shot Pepper a look when she gave him a hopeful expression. "My treat." he sniffed and snapped his fingers, "Speaking of treats, I can just use my own funds for this! It's not fair to have you spending all your money on me and Pepper." The doll shrugged it off.

"It's not like I really need it. I'm a doll, what need do I have of food and room? Or medicine? Pepper's fine in the wild; she can just get her food from plants or hunting small animals. And she can heal herself as long as she can keep mana flowing into her." he remarked, "You're actually the weakest of the three of us, so all funds go to making sure you stay alive and in good health."

"Gee thanks." Wren answered wryly, arms folding over his chest.

"I tell it like it is, boy!" Caleb declared and threw out a hand in a pointing gesture, "Onwards! To Meltokio! And call your dad for a reservation at the local inn under Wonder Organization fundage!" Wren only grinned and shook his head as he held the fork up and sent them on their way back to Meltokio.

* * *

The city of Meltokio was huge and filled with people of nobility and high society. For a few minutes, Ginger felt dizzy with culture shock. Her clothes made her stand out far too much and half the time she was wandering the streets she was too numb to react to any of the derisive comments made by those nobles who just wouldn't get with the program. After a while, Ginger flopped onto a bench and sighed, rubbing her head.

"There's no _way_ I'll find those guys in here! And no one's gonna stop snickering long enough to give me any information!" she grumbled and checked her satchel of candy. "Hmm, I still have a good supply of my Dark Chef candies." She pulled one out and chewed on it for a bit before sticking it under the wood of the bench. Standing up, she went on her way, a grim look on her face.

"Well, if no one in this stupid city is going to help me find what I want, then it deserves to go up in smoke! Besides, DuGorge needs this place in one piece to do his major damage to the world." Ginger told herself, "So in this case, the sacrifice of a few hundred or so fruitcakes can be justified." She moved to another bench, took another candy, chewed and plastered it under the seats. Ginger continued onwards, spreading the candies around Meltokio.

It took her the better part of the day to spread all of the candy she needed to complete the job, and she was tired and hot from all the walking around. Her stomach growled and Ginger began looking around for a place to eat. Though she fought fiercely against the discrimination of her candy, the former spy still could appreciate a good, hot meal. She wiped at her forehead, black hair clinging to her cheeks and neck from the heat and exercise. Late spring was bringing in warmer weather as it began transitioning to summer. This worried Ginger for a bit; her candies could melt before she could trigger them. But, they were in shade, so that should slow the process down some. This kind of work wasn't entirely too foreign to Ginger, but all the walking in the heat and listening to stupid rich people snigger about her clothes and lack of 'grace' was starting to wear on her.

"Wait until I detonate my candy... we'll see if they can be graceful while this city falls around them!" she growled, "Now, where can I find a decent meal...?"

* * *

Caleb, Wren and Pepper walked the streets of Meltokio in search of a restaurant. The local inn had told them that they didn't serve out meals, so they set out to find a place to eat. Pepper tagged along happily behind them as Caleb pointed out potential restaurants. Wren shook his head at a few of them.

"Nope, no, not that one. I know the cooks in there, they over-spice because they can. I hate food that's unnecessarily spicy." he critiqued, "In fact, remind me later to go and give them a talking to; either they shape up, or I'm recommending they get fired."

"So picky." Caleb muttered.

"Am not. I just know what I like, and I don't like food that gets ruined for the sake of showing off for people." the blonde remarked as they walked into the square of the second tier. "That's like one step away from turning into a Dark Chef. When someone cooks for others, they should do it with the intention of making sure those people get what they need, as well as what they want." Caleb stopped walking and held up a hand for Pepper to pause as well, grinning as Wren kept on walking, attention diverted to his speech about cooking. "You can't waste food and ingredients trying to make yourself look good for the sake of fame. That's not what cooks are supposed to be about." he went on talking, looking very serious about it, "The Wonder Organization was created out of the Royal Order of Master Chefs to prevent this sort of thing from..."

Caleb blinked as he watched a Wonder Cook with dark hair and her head bent down walk right into Wren. The two cooks collided and fell in a heap with startled yelps. Caleb smacked his forehead and shook his head with a sigh and heavenward glance.

"Martel, if you wanted to get me back for showing up so many times with pieces missing, couldn't you do it in a _less_ public way?" he asked. He raised an eyebrow as he watched Wren and the other cook sit up, rubbing heads painfully. "Although, this would be a good time to see if he gets over that stupid shyness of his. If he needs an heir to get out of being Wonder Chef, he's gotta find a chick of his own." he remarked with a smile, grinning up at Pepper who only gave him a strange look.

"_Ow!_ Oh, sorry!" Wren exclaimed as he searched around for his hat and grabbed it, pulling it back on, "I didn't mean to...!"

"Watch where the hell you're going, you **idiot**!" the woman snapped irritably as she rubbed her head and glared at him. The two locked gazes and Ginger's eyes widened, "_You?!_"

"Uh oh." Wren mumbled and cried out as the spy tackled him with a furious shriek.

"I've been searching all _over_ for you, you half-baked, half-witted, stupid, lousy...!" she yelled, soon falling into another strange tongue and shaking him by the collar as Wren flailed about in shock. Caleb gave a start upon recognizing her voice and ran up to help his friend.

"Hey! Get off!" he demanded and lifted Ginger clear by the back of her shirt. She kicked and screamed in a fury as Wren scooted backwards, still startled. "Wren, are you okay?"

"You couldn't have done that **sooner**?!" the young Wonder Chef yelled.

"I don't know. You looked like you were getting over being such a little virgin there." the doll joked with a wide grin. Wren waved his fists into the air in a fit.

_"Stop calling me that!"_ he shouted, face a brighter red than the spy's, who squirmed and shrieked in indignation.

"This certainly **is** an interesting afternoon. The morning was a bit boring but running into our old pal, Ginger, did perk things up." the doll added brightly, "At least I hope it did for my chef friend, eh, Ms. Spy?"

"As if anyone could get a rise out of that little brat of an idiot..." Ginger growled, "I'll have you know that I was on my way to having a nice lunch before tracking you down for that cooking battle!" She struggled again, then went limp with an irritated huff. "Hey, Red, you owe me, remember? Put me **down**!"

"Will you call us even if I do? And not start up with that strange dialect again?" Caleb asked politely. Ginger nodded begrudgingly and he grinned again. "Done deal!" he remarked and promptly dropped her onto the floor.

"Ow!" she grunted and rubbed at the sore spot, "I said, put me down, not **dump** me like a sack of pecans!" She and Wren stood up, giving each other wary looks, trying to find the threat in each other while attempting not to appear intimidated as well. In Caleb's mind, both failed miserably.

"Do you two want me and Pepper to leave you alone for a while?" the doll asked dryly, "Like, maybe an hour? Or five minutes? Depends on how fast Wren catches on." Both cooks shot him dark glares.

"**You shut up!**" they yelled in unison, gave each other a second evil look, then promptly turned their backs on one another in indignant huffs. Caleb and Pepper looked at each other, then sighed and shook their heads in exasperation.

"Not okay." Pepper sighed.

"You can say that again." the doll agreed and Pepper cocked her head.

"Not okay." she repeated, much to Caleb's dismay.


	7. Chapter 7

Ch 7

Hima proved to be somewhat of a bust for Fredrik as he searched the place for signs of the Wonder Chef. He walked into various inns and shops, poking at anything that didn't look like it quite belonged. He made his way to the Egg Beater shop and walked up to the shop-keeper.

"Hey, nice day." he greeted the sandy-haired man, "Ah, this may sound kinda weird, but I'm looking for a cook."

"You **are** a cook. Why would you be lookin' for another one?" the keeper remarked dryly, sifting through a book of recipes. Fredrik took a deep breath, held it, then blew it out slowly, trying to ease off the burst of frustration.

"I know _that_. I'm looking for a specific... chef." he tried again and the shop-keeper finally looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "He's kind of a kid, blonde hair, blue eyes, carries around a big fork and all... bit of an airhead, too."

"That's Adam... why are you looking for the Wonder Chef?" the man asked suspiciously.

"Just want to make sure he's still keeping up with his cooking, and if he slacks off again, I'll come along and take over his place." Fredrik told him firmly.

"Right, right. Well, I haven't seen the Wonder Chef come by here. Ain't seen much in the way of Wonder Cooks either. Try your luck somewhere el-...." the shop-keeper remarked as the side wall opened and Eve hopped through with a cheerful smile.

"_Bon giorno_, Uncle Milano! Don't mind me; I'm off to see the world again!" she exclaimed brightly as the man at the counter put his hand over his face with a groan. Fredrik watched Eve bounce past them, then looked back at the shop-keeper with a grin.

"So... where can I find the Wonder Chef? Adam's his name, right?" he asked again. Milano glared at the wall as it closed and shook his head.

"I have **got** to install a doorbell or something for that thing." he grumbled and looked back at the cook, "And seriously, why are you looking for my nephew?"

"Give him a pep talk. And also, to see what he thinks of this." Fredrik showed him the candy recipe, "I got it from an old couple in Asgard who said it was really important that it was spread around to other people." Milano looked interested as he took the paper in his hands.

"A candy recipe! I thought I'd never see signs of another confectioner in the world since Ozette burned down!" he exclaimed in awe. Fredrik threw up his hands.

"Right! _Okay!_ So, I have to find this Adam kid and let him know that this thing needs major distribution!" he declared and Milano winced.

"Ah, yeah. Sorry. Wonder Chef isn't allowed to spread candy or its recipes. Part of the reason why I'm not Wonder Chef myself." he remarked. He pulled out a sheet of paper and a pencil. "Let me make a copy of it and see what I can do. As for Adam himself, I have **no** idea where he is now. He tends to hop around a lot; very flighty. He's been that way since he was a tyke. Probably why the nickname Wren fits him so well." he muttered, "Here one second, gone the next. Drove baby-sitters bananas running around like that. Okay, got it. Well, good luck trying to find Adam. Your best bet would be to let him find you."

"That's **it**? I need to whap him harder." Fredrik grumbled under his breath as he took back the original recipe, "Okay, fine. I'll just make my way across the northern bridge to Izoold, see if he might be there."

"Good luck." Milano remarked with a wave as he studied the recipe again. Fredrik left the shop with a shake of his head. "You'll need it."

~*~*~*~*~*

Flanoir left no doubt in anyone's mind that it was indeed the lair of choice for Celsius, the Summon Spirit of Ice. Temperatures never rose above the freezing point and snow always fell in the region. To grow crops of any kind was almost impossible, if not for the scientific breakthrough that created the greenhouse. Most other foods and items had to imported from other regions, so the city of Flanoir had to make sure their income continued to support this. It helped that Regal's Lezareno Company held several hotels and ski resorts in the area, drawing tourists and those on pilgrimages by the shipload.

Eve's transport dragon was not impressed by the weather, and in fact despised it greatly, huddled behind a few Elemental Carriages not far from the entrance to the Famine Temple. It especially hated having to walk from over several hundred yards away to get to this point. Eve would not let it fly in directly.

After a few minutes of consideration back in Hima, Eve had decided that their best bet of finding out what the Dark Chefs were really up to would be to turn their best trick against them. Meaning, send in a spy of their own. Since no one had counted on a female spy snooping around in the Wonder Organization, maybe no one would think of a female spy in the Dark Chef Alliance? She hoped this would hold true, especially now that she had just whacked a passing patrol cook over the head with the back end of her spoon. She dragged the agent behind the ECs, told the dragon to look after it, then stripped off the uniform. Eve changed quickly, the air was bitter cold and she still had to shove the patroller into the back of the carriage. Once that was said and done, and she decided a Dark Chef uniform didn't completely look drab on her, she slipped on a pair of sunglasses and marched off to sneak into the Famine Temple.

Getting in was a little worrying. She'd been stopped a few times to identify herself as she walked the halls in search of clues. With a smile that dazzled so many people in her former career as a fashion model, Eve gave her name as Angel, a cake specialist, then pressed a small kiss on the cheeks of her accosters and twirled off before they could snap themselves out of their stupor. By then, the cooks were too infatuated by the 'vision' that they didn't bother to note her arrival and, in this world as in all others, if it wasn't written down, it never happened.

The halls of the Famine Temple were as familiar to Eve as the halls of the Wonder Organization Headquarters, which proved itself by making her completely lost. Since she had exiled herself from the Wonder Cooks to pursue her modeling career, she'd lost touch of the only home she'd known as a child, remembering only the most important locations and how to reach them from the main hall. For a moment, Eve wished her younger brother was with her. Adam had spent much of his training as Wonder Chef within these walls, learning of the history of the line he came from, the importance of the missions he would undertake and the even greater importance that he must not break the pact with Mithos.

Which Adam did as soon as he got his hands on the Wonder Fork.

Eve shook her head slightly with a small smile. She'd heard the stories, read the letters that were sent to her in hopes that she would return to talk sense into the boy born only two minutes behind her. It was almost scandalous; a Wonder Chef practically spitting into Mithos' face when it came to that deal. Well, now here she was, on her own, doing sort of the same thing. What a scandal _this_ would make! She could barely contain her glee as she walked down the corridors. The walls were decorated with carvings and inlays, images of the ancient legend that gave birth to the First Wonder Chef in the world. Since the resealing of the Famine Lord, the Wonder Cooks only stayed in the temple long enough to do a clean up sweep, then left. Which was probably when DuGorge took it back over to make his base.

She hated the idea that the Dark Chef Alliance was something that the Wonder Organization indirectly created. Eve had heard of that rumor many times as a young girl. Over three hundred years ago, long before the Voraci Family had even heard of the Organization, a Wonder Chef committed a serious crime of discrimination and was banished from his position, his family sent out to make their own way in the world. After a few decades, the Wonder Organization took notice of several cooks using heavily altered recipes to ruin the food supplies of the then declining world. The first true confrontation between Wonder Chef and these strange new cooks established the name of the other group, as well as ignited a bitter feud that continued to this very day. The Dark Chef Alliance vowed to regain what was rightfully theirs, even as they vowed to avenge the fallen Wonder Chef.

That was how the story went, and it was an urban legend passed down from chefs to cooks to recruits as a way of trying to understand when and why the Dark Chefs existed, and also to scare the arrogance out of those recruits that expected to be quickly elevated to Wonder Chef position in a matter of days. A fallen Wonder Chef became titled a Dark Chef almost instantly, sort of like the story of an angel becoming a demon once cast out of heaven. Even though it was just a rumor, it was enough to send shivers down Eve's spine and she prayed every night before she went to bed that her little brother would never be 'Fallen'.

"Hm?" Eve suddenly hummed in interest as she came across a room that looked as if it had been heavily damaged. There were burns all around it, the floor was scorched and the door was brand new. She took careful note of her surroundings, searching about for anyone that could be watching her, then walked up and tested the door. It was locked, of course. Eve reached into her bag and pulled out a small container of wood wrapped in layers of thick cloth. It was something the Wonder Cooks invented for carrying hot and cold liquids while retaining the heat or cold of them. They called it a thermos, for the way it maintained the temperatures. Eve's thermos held a serving of the acidic broth that every Wonder Cook was taught to make right off the recruiting line.

"This is going to leave a lot of evidence that someone's been here, but if I hurry, it won't matter." she murmured softly as she poured the broth onto the hinges of the door, melting them away. The broth was created to eat through metal and synthetic materials, which was why the thermos was made of organic wood. The hinges liquefied and Eve carefully put away the broth, then eased the door aside to allow herself entry.

The room smelled of fading smoke and lavender, and the huge desk set near the back wall was covered in papers and notes. Other than it and the few chairs and cabinets, the room was sparse and looked more like an office than anything else. Eve went straight for the sheets on the desk and began reading through them.

"Let's see, these are recipes for candy. 'Spicewood'? I've heard of that name. The Spicewood Family was famous for their candies in Ozette, but they were all killed when the village was destroyed." she muttered in confusion, "Their recipes were thought to be lost, and no other confectioners existed since then, except for Uncle Milano. These are the Holy Grail of confectionery. What would the Dark Chefs be doing with these recipes?" She gasped in realization. "All those baking goods that were stolen! Flour, sugar, satays, milk, butter...! They plan on modifying candy for their battles against the Wonder Cooks!" she exclaimed and looked confused, "But that doesn't tell me how they got these recipes. Or why they wanted Meltokio steel and all the other foods that were stolen."

Eve sifted through more of the notes, absorbing the information with growing horror as a dark figure wrapped in deep blue moved in the shadows behind her.

"So that's it...! We shouldn't have ignored Heimdall after all! These candies aren't going to be used on us, they plan on giving them to everyone else! If that happens... all those people... I've got to tell Daddy!" she whispered and brought out the golden disc, crying out in fright as a hand reached out from around her and knocked away the disc.

"You will do **no** such thing, little girl. You make a lousy spy, you didn't even bother to see if I was in here." DuGorge sneered, grabbing Eve by the arm and pinning it behind her back, "Now that you've discovered my delectably devious plans, I can't let you go running off to tell your idiot brother or anyone else for that matter."

"Let go! The Wonder Cooks will stop your plans, no matter if I tell them or not! This whole plan is doomed to fail! No one alive and on _your_ side knows how to make candy!" Eve snapped, struggling as the Master Chef pulled her along and headed down the corridor with his new captive.

"Oh, **someone** did. And once we had all the information in her head for this plan, she was no longer of any use to us. You, however, are going to be very, _very_ useful." DuGorge snickered cruelly as he made his way to a large, open chamber. Dozens of men and women looked up at them from newly installed consoles, work tables and crafting tools. There were dwarves, humans, and half-elves in the mix, all looking a little wary but mostly interested in what DuGorge was bringing in.

"Ah! Wh-what's all this?!" Eve cried in astonishment, looking around the room with wide eyes as a Dark Chef agent stood up from a chair and inspected his hand with pride, the newly attached Exsphere shimmering in the light of the consoles and computers.

"This is where I keep my special division. They're not cooks, but they have other uses that warrant their continued existence." DuGorge remarked with a grin, "I picked them up after that little incident with the metal dragon terrorizing Symphonia."

"The one people say was killed by an Angel of Light." Eve murmured softly, "These are... Desians?"

"I don't care what they call themselves, as long as they call me their master." DuGorge disregarded the question and pushed the blonde into the arms of one of the half-elves working at a table. "You there! This girl is to be given special consideration, as I need her to be my bargaining chip against that air-headed brother of hers." he ordered, "You still have plenty of Exspheres left, right?" The group nodded. "Good. Then, attach one to her and make sure it makes her nice and quiet, and very obedient." DuGorge went on with a smile, "Something special for this one, and make sure it has a nice design crest on it." Eve kicked and yelled as she was taken away for the compatibility testing. "I have great plans for this one. Yes, a weapon sweeter than candy to be used on the Wonder Chef... how very fitting...." DuGorge mused as he left.

~*~*~*~*~*

Lunch was late as it took forever for Wren to finally pick out a restaurant that met his approval. Ginger glared at him as they ate on opposite sides of the table. Caleb sat with them to act as referee, looking half-bored and half-amused. Pepper sat outside, pulling mental images of the going-ons from the doll while waiting for them to finish and return to the journey.

"You are _such_ a picky bastard." Ginger growled between bites of thick-cut steak.

"And _you_ are an expensive little witch." Wren growled back, stabbing at pieces of tenderloin. Caleb put his hands over his face, hoping no one would think to connect him to these two.

"You didn't **have** to pay for my lunch, you know." the woman pointed out coolly.

"I was raised to be a gentleman as well as a chef. Which is more than can be said about **you**." Wren returned just as coolly. Pepper's questioning images nudged into Caleb's mind, which he returned with the picture of two mules butting heads. The group turned to watch the mana beast roll over in guffaws beyond the wall-sized window at the front of the building, all four paws kicking at the air. Wren glared at the doll. "What did you tell her?!" he demanded.

"A joke I heard Zelos say once. Are you two lovebirds _done_?" he returned flatly.

"Stop making fun of this!" both cooks yelled and returned to the meals, attacking them almost viciously. Caleb sighed, then waited until both plates were cleaned off before clearing his throat.

"Right. Well, now that you've both been fed, I want to know why Ms. Spy is still stalking Wren." he finally said and studied her, waiting for an answer.

"I've come to finish what I started; that cooking battle is still on and we have to have it out to prove my candies are better than your desserts!" Ginger declared and smiled, "And that my newest candy is so potent, I bet it will replace the Ultimate Recipe!" Wren stood up in a flash, a furious look on his face.

"That right there is an outright **lie**! The Ultimate Recipe is over seven thousand years old; what makes you think that something you whipped up in a backwoods kitchen can _possibly_ come close to its power?!" he hissed. Ginger stood just as quickly to face him down.

"Hey, that _backwoods_ candy was what saved your lousy hide back in NeOzette, so just shut up!" she snapped and flicked his nose. The surprised look on his face, coupled with the sight of his hands flying up to cover it, was enough to make her laugh.

"Wha-?" Wren stammered out and glared at the confectioner standing across from him, still giggling. "So that dream I had **wasn't** a dream after all! You really **were** in my room that night!" Caleb looked up in interest. This was new; he'd been so deep in his concentration to keep the young chef alive that he'd blocked everything else out.

"Yeah, duh." Ginger retorted, "Your sister told me where you were and I came to challenge you to finish the battle, but there you were, all sick and helpless like the baby you are. How am I to beat you fair and square when you look like Death warmed over?"

"You fed me something. What did you give me?" Wren questioned.

"My newest candy, the one that will bump out the Ultimate Recipe in power and potency." Ginger replied haughtily, "If it weren't for my candy, you'd be **dead**. That cream stew wouldn't have done a damn thing for you."

"Meh, yeah it would. I got sick again in the Temple of Earth, and all it took to cure me was cream stew and _Healing Wind_." Wren shot back, "Candy doesn't have the power to do anything but rot kids' teeth and waste good ingredients!" Ginger gasped in shock and slapped him in a fury.

"_Ingrate!_ Candy can be **just** as good as every other recipe!" she yelled. Caleb didn't know whether to break up the argument or just keep Pepper entertained with joke images to ensure no blasts of _Mana Light_ ripped into the little restaurant. Wren glared at the woman, then flopped down in his seat, seething quietly. Ginger waited for a moment, then sat down as well, looking embarrassed and a little guilty at her outburst. "Um... I didn't mean to do that." she mumbled an apology.

"Are we done _now_?" Caleb asked after silence stretched uncomfortably long, "'Cause Pepper's asking more questions than I can make up answers for."

"Yes. Let's go to the Temple of Darkness." Wren muttered and got up. Ginger jumped up after him.

"Wait! I'm coming with you!" she exclaimed and halted when the blonde stopped to glare at her.

"No, you're **not**." he growled. Ginger blinked and seemed to wilt, then brought herself up again, face flushing with controlled anger.

"Yes, I **am**! And you can't **stop** me! We have a cooking battle that needs to be done and until I've planned out my tactics, I have to keep an eye on you!" she told him firmly, "S-so don't think you can just p-push me away! I'll follow you wherever you go until we finally have that... that battle!" Wren stared at her for a moment, then sighed.

"Fine. But you are to say **nothing** else about your lousy candies. _Or_ get in the way of my journey." he told her and began walking out. Ginger looked down at herself, then called out to him again.

"Wait! Can I at least get some **decent** clothes?!" she cried and chased after him. Caleb shook his head as he followed them out.

"I'm witnessing a marriage in the making...." he sighed, venturing into a new realm of strangeness.

To Be Concluded

* * *

A/N: Omg, I had no idea that this one had been incomplete for so long. Ouchu. Okay, still need to wrap up the ToS fandom for me.


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